The Brothers Strange, Sons of the Sorcerer
by thablackkuririn
Summary: The blood protection has failed. Vernon and Petunia Dursley have vanished without a trace, leaving Dumbledore to find a safe home for Harry and Dudley. He begs a favor from a sorceror even more powerful than him, and gets more than he ever bargained for.
1. Prologue: A Reluctant Favor

**The Brothers Strange, Sons of the Sorcerer**

**A Harry Potter and Marvel Universe crossover**

**Prologue – A Reluctant Favor**

Albus Dumbledore cursed Murphy's name far more than was probably healthy. It wasn't that he had anything personal against the shadowy specter, but the old wizard was simply tired of Murphy being right. Murphy, of course, was famous for an ancient adage that proved, time and again, to be accurate: anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. This had certainly proven to be true where the Potter's had been concerned because, despite his best efforts, they were very much dead. He'd hoped that, when their son had been spared their fate, the boy would escape the long spell of bad fortune that had plagued the family, but deep in his heart he knew that young Harry would never be so fortunate. If the boy could just make it to his eleventh birthday, though, Dumbledore felt that he could secure the boy's future.

Which, of course, meant that disaster struck well in advance of Dumbledore's expectations. And, of course, it was the worst possible time, as the Ministry of Magic continued to root out the last of the Dark Lord's supporters. Now was not the time for such unsettling events to come up, not when the wizarding world was finally escaping the long shadow of the Dark forces. Once again, Dumbledore found himself forced to consider what to do about young Harry Potter. No, he had to correct himself. He now needed to decide what to do about Harry _and_ his cousin Dudley.

It had all happened rather suddenly, the orphaning of the two boys. From what the police and aurors had determined, Vernon and Petunia Dursley had simply vanished on Halloween night, leaving the two boys to fend for themselves for almost three days. By then, their cries had alerted the neighbors, who had naturally phoned the police. The boys had been taken into the custody of the muggle child welfare authorities and the search for the parents began. Within hours, the Ministry of Magic had been informed, and they had quickly taken over the case. Even after two weeks, the combined efforts of the aurors and Dumbledore had yielded no results.

And so it fell to Dumbledore (after a considerable struggle with the Ministry) to provide for their futures. Despite his considerable resources and intelligence, he'd nearly run out of ideas that would keep both boys safer than they'd apparently been before. Then, they'd been secure under blood wards, or so Dumbledore had thought. Since this very powerful and ancient magic had been breached, their adoptive parents would have to be exceptionally powerful to prevent any further problems. It was paramount that the boys stay together and that they be as secure as possible. With Harry being who he was, and Dudley being a muggle, it was literally impossible to find someone that could keep them safely. Or, more accurately, impossible to find someone _in Britain_ who could do the job.

There _was_ someone with more than enough power to shelter the boys, whom Dumbledore could trust without reservation, and who, most importantly, owed him a rather large favor. Still, he was hesitant to make the call. If this person agreed to take the boys in, they would be separated from Britain and the wizarding world for years. He could also not count on the person's parenting skills, seeing as they had no children of their own. Mostly, though, he hesitated because, despite having a healthy mutual respect, they could not stand one another. Being between a rock and a hard place has a profound affect on what one can tolerate, though, and Dumbledore found himself ringing the bell at the door of a great mansion in Greenwich Village, New York City on a cold night in late November.

Dumbledore noted with some annoyance that the house was even more layered with magic than it had been the last time he'd visited. It almost seemed to be flaunting the capabilities of its owner by radiating magic so thickly that he could literally feel it in the air. Within moments, the door was slowly opened, revealing a short, middle aged Chinese man who looked over him appraisingly. He resisted rolling his eyes and instead gave the man a pleasant smile. "Hello, Wong, it's good to see you again."

Wong bowed and gave an equally pleasant smile that did not reach his eyes. "Headmaster Dumbledore, you honor us with your presence. May I ask the nature of your visit?"

"I believe your master is expecting me. I sent an owl a week ago." Dumbledore replied.

Wong frowned. "Very odd. I don't recall the master mentioning this. No matter, please come in. I'm sure the master can spare a few minutes."

Dumbledore ignored the none too subtle jab and followed Wong into the house. Behind him, the door shut of its own accord. The mansion hadn't changed all that much, but he could definitely feel more magic than before. Considering the circles Wong's master traveled in, the house no doubt housed many new magical items in addition to a multitude of new enchantments. One of the older enchantments that he remembered was in action as he followed Wong, bewitching him to completely forget the way they'd come from the front door. It had taken him several visits to the home before he'd given up trying to break the enchantment.

Dumbledore could feel the magic becoming more oppressive as they approached the end of a hallway. At the end was a normal looking door, but he knew better, and he didn't need the strange swirls of light bleeding out from beneath it to tell him that. Before Wong could even get within ten feet of the door, a disembodied voice spoke. "Thank you, Wong. I'll see the old man now, alone."

"As you wish, master." Wong said, bowing at the door before gesturing towards the door, which had slowly swung open.

Dumbledore ground his teeth at the insult and swept through the door. Inside was a room that was, to put it mildly, impressive. High, sweeping wood beams held up a vaulted ceiling. On the far walls were bookshelves that reached nearly to the ceiling and were filled with books. Obviously magical items were scattered about the large room along with a few items of furniture, making the room seem even larger than it was. A large, circular window with four curved, decorative cross-braces centered the room and looked out over the street.. Directly in front of it, sitting on a potently magical chair that looked almost like a throne, was the person he'd come to see.

"Dr. Strange, I'm delighted you were able to see me today." Dumbledore said with a nod. "It's been some time since we last met, almost two years, I believe."

"It's just Stephen, Albus. We're old friends, after all, no reason to have you calling me by my professional name." Dr. Strange replied amiably, though he looked over his guest with shrewd, piercing blue eyes.

Dr. Stephen Strange had not changed a bit since last they'd met. He was still moderately tall and slender and he still wore his hair, beard, and mustache neatly trimmed. He even wore the same adventuring outfit as always, a thigh-length blue robe, dark trousers, and enchanted white gloves. The ensemble was accented by the powerful Cloak of Levitation, which was held in place around his neck by the even more powerful Eye of Agamotto. "So, Albus, what brings you to New York?" asked Strange.

"Rather pressing business, I'm afraid, and I was hoping you could help me." Dumbledore said with a sigh. As he spoke, he produced his wand and, pointing it behind himself, he twiddle it slightly. He then proceeded to fall backwards onto the floor in a most undignified manner.

Strange seemed to be stifling a grin. "Oh, my apologies. I usually ward against others doing magic on the property. I've found it to be a wise protection to employ over the years. Please have a seat, though." And with a small wave of his hand, a comfortable looking chair appeared next to Dumbledore.

"No harm done, Stephen." Dumbledore said cheerily, though inside he was seething. "And I do believe I will have a seat, thank you."

The chair, he found, was quite deceptive, since it was not comfortable at all. He pretended not to notice. "As I was saying, I have a rather difficult situation on my hands, one which I believe you are uniquely suited to handle."

"Really? Are you telling me that there's a problem that the great Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards can't solve? I'm _astounded_." said Strange sardonically.

"Even the great and powerful can sometimes recognize and admit when they need help." Dumbledore said coolly.

"Yes, on occasion, when they've failed miserably, I suppose they can." agreed Strange with a nod of mock earnest. "But Albus, what would the wizarding world say if they knew you were here? Consorting with and seeking the aid of the most hated _muggle _alive. Imagine the scandal if word were to get to your precious little enclave."

Dumbledore sighed wearily. "Stephen, must we really do this? There is no cause for unpleasantness. I merely wished to ask your assistance."

Strange's face darkened slightly. "That's funny, because the last time I saw you, I thought I'd made it abundantly clear that the wizarding world was on its own. Did you think I'd roll out the red carpet when you came calling?" He rose from his seat and walked slowly over to the window, hands clasped behind his back. "Your kind made it quite clear that they didn't care for a non-wizard meddling in their affairs. For all I care, the wizarding world can go to hell and say hello to Mephisto for me while down there." He turned back around sharply and looked straight into Dumbledore's eyes. "You've wasted both your time and mine, Albus. I'd say I was happy to see you, but that would be a lie, so I'll instead say good night. Wong!"

The abrupt dismissal wasn't entirely surprising to Dumbledore, but it did jolt him into quick action. "Stephen, please, allow me to explain-"

"There's nothing you have to say that I want to hear." the doctor replied as the door swung open and Wong stepped into the room. "Wong, please show Mr. Dumbledore the way out."

The Chinese man nodded and proceeded to lift Dumbledore to his feet. "It's a life or death matter, Stephen, concerning Harry Potter!" Dumbledore blurted out desperately. Wong had almost ushered him out of the door before Strange called out to them.

"Just a moment, Wong." He approached them with a guarded look. "Harry Potter in mortal danger? I thought you'd taken steps to ensure his safety."

"I...I was wrong, and you were right. He was not safe." admitted Dumbledore, his shoulders slumping visibly.

"Will wonders never cease? Albus Dumbledore admitting he's wrong." Strange said, waving off his servant. "Wong, we'll take tea, and please include extra lemon wedges for Mr. Dumbledore."

After they'd settled into much more comfortable chairs and Wong had brought the tea, Dumbledore explained what had happened at the home of Harry Potter, as well as the investigation into the incident. Strange silently considered what was said for several minutes before responding.

"I did warn you that the blood magic had a weakness, Albus. Was there any indication of abuse or neglect? No, don't answer, I can see it clearly in your head." Strange nearly spat the last bit. Dumbledore looked shamed at both realizing his mistake and knowing that, even with is formidable Occlumency, Strange could still manage to read his mind. It was quite true that there'd been abundant signs of abuse, all directed at Harry. "Well then, what do you need of me, Albus? Scrying for them would be a waste of time, as you seemed to have done a thorough job of it already. How exactly do you expect me to help you with this situation?"

Dumbledore seemed to gather himself up before responding. "Yes, well, tragically, Harry and his cousin are now orphans, and it has fallen to me to arrange for their futures. You may not be aware of it, but these two boys represent the last of their maternal bloodline. This is the blood that should have ensured Harry Potter's protection under his aunt's roof. I still believe it to be a viable and powerful protection for Harry, so long as he and Dudley Dursley live together as a family."

"And I suppose you'd like me to strengthen that protection?" Strange said with an uncharacteristic snort. "Why don't you ask a brain surgeon to put a Band-Aid on a knee scrape while you're at it?"

"A brain sturgeon?" Dumbledore looked confused. "I'm afraid I don't know what a fish-"

"By the hoary host of Hoggoth, it's a doctor, not a fish!" Strange nearly shouted exasperatedly. "I mean that it's, once again, a waste of my precious time. You're a perfectly capable wizard for such a simple task."

"I'm sorry, Stephen, but I seem to have given you the wrong idea about what I'm asking." said Dumbledore, only just fighting back the self-satisfied grin that threatened to take over his face. It wasn't often that he could rile Strange, but he also couldn't afford to have the man reject his request. "While you're certainly welcome to strengthen the blood protection, the favor I would ask is much more involved."

"I highly doubt that."

Dumbledore paused, gave Strange a significant look, and dropped the bomb. "I want you to raise those boys as your own."

There was a moment or two of shocked silence. "You want me to _what?_"

"It would only be until Harry is old enough to go to magic school, after which I will have made other arrangements for their care." Dumbledore added quickly.

"No. Absolutely not. They're your problem, _you_ take care of them."

"Stephen, you know I have neither the time nor the inclination for child-rearing. Teaching has been the closest that I've ever been to parenting. Besides which, I should think I'm rather too old to be changing nappies and such." Dumbledore said in a slightly amused tone.

"_You_ don't have the time? I'm the Sorcerer Supreme! It's not all tea and meditating and floating auras. My activities would make your schedule look like a vacation." Strange said derisively. "And just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean I want to or can raise children."

"No, Stephen, it does not." said Dumbledore, nodding in agreement. "Please understand that I ask this favor reluctantly, knowing your view of wizards as it is. But also understand that I ask this because Harry and Dudley are in grave danger. Their guardians vanished, leaving not a trace that even I, with my considerable skill, could follow. Weakened though it may have been, the blood protection is an ancient and powerful magic that should have thwarted any attempt on the lives of that family, and yet it proved to be insufficient."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and sighed even more wearily than he had earlier. "I will be honest with you, Stephen; I do not trust their safety to any wizard save myself, and I am simply unable to care for their needs at this time. And while I realize that your time is valuable, it is your own, and you are not required to maintain any official or public offices, as do I."

Strange gave him a look of exasperation. "Then the answer is simple: retire."

"That I cannot do. I must maintain my position in the wizarding world and remain vigilant. Voldemort will return, and when he does, I must be ready to counter him."

"You seem very sure of that. I thought Harry Potter took care of him."

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment. "I fear that it only appeared that way. There was a prophecy. Voldemort _will_ return, and when he does, he will target Harry. We cannot afford to lose him." Strange seemed conflicted, so Dumbledore pressed on. "I'm not asking you to save the wizarding world, I'm asking you to take in and protect two little boys until such time that I can provide a safe place for them. You are the only person in the world I know powerful enough to keep Harry and Dudley safe. They're only three years old, Stephen. They do not deserve to be struck down like dogs in the street."

Strange had jumped from his seat and started pacing, muttering darkly to himself. Dumbledore remained quiet and studied him, noting the magic that seemed to envelope the most powerful magic wielder on Earth. They did not see eye to eye, nor did they particularly like one another, but Dumbledore knew that Strange was a man of good and just intentions. He only hoped that Strange could see past his animosity towards wizards to help.

Strange had stopped pacing and had wandered over to look out the large circular window again. "I'll help you, Albus, but on my terms." He faced Dumbledore and walked back to his seat slowly. "First, consider the favor I owe you returned. Second, I'll keep them until you find a safe place, but don't think that means you can sit back and wait until Harry goes to Hogwarts. I want monthly updates on your progress."

"Very well, Stephen, I-" Dumbledore began, but Strange cut him off loudly.

"_Third_, since you're entrusting them to my care, you will not interfere with the way I raise them, unless of course you want to regain their custody. Fourth, any contact you or other wizards have with the boys will be through me, as a safety precaution. I'm sure you understand." He sat down once again and stared pointedly at Dumbledore. "And finally, I want you to tell me everything you know about Harry, Voldemort, and that prophecy."

He had gotten what he wanted. Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, had agreed to become foster parent to perhaps the most important boy in British Wizarding history. And he had little doubt that, in eight years' time, Harry Potter would be more than prepared to re-enter the wizarding world and, one day, face his destiny with Voldemort. But as he reluctantly told Strange what he wanted to know, Albus Dumbledore could not shake the uneasy feeling that the carefully planned life he'd set for Harry Potter had just slipped completely from from his grasp.

**Disclaimer:** These usually go at the top, but since I'm such a rebel, I put it down here. Of course, if I were a real rebel, I wouldn't put this here at all. Actually, I put it here to not spoil who the "only other person powerful enough to keep them safe" was. At any rate, JK Rowling and Marvel own these characters, in case you've been living in a cave and didn't know that. I'm pretty sure they won't sue me, but you never know these days, so a little CYA never hurts.

**Author's Notes:**

Not much to say here. I got this idea while working on Chapter 2 of Hooligan and it wouldn't go away until I wrote it down. It was originally going to be an Iron Fist story, but it didn't make as much sense and I wasn't as excited about the premise. In case you're wondering who Dr. Strange is, take a look at his wikipedia page for enlightenment. It should probably give you an idea of where I'm gonna go with the story. Yes, he is a muggle. That's going to play quite a bit into the development of the story.

And in case you're wondering, I'm not going to be going my usual route of going through all the books. I just don't have the patience for yet another story like that. Instead, I'll take a page from other fan fics and skip some years. The first book or three are not as interesting anyway, so we won't miss much, trust me.

Let me know what you think and be on the look out for the first chapter.


	2. A Very Strange Childhood

**The Brothers Strange, Sons of the Sorcerer**

**A Harry Potter and Marvel Universe crossover**

**Part 1 – Return to the Wizarding World**

**Chapter 1 – A Very Strange Childhood**

_**The Sanctum Sanctorum, May 1984**_

Dr. Stephen Strange was engaged in a battle of wills with one of his most implacable opponents and he knew that, despite his vast knowledge and skill, he was doomed to failure. Still, he pressed on, hoping that maybe this time he'd find some chink in the armor, some opening he could exploit. However, this day, it was not to be. No matter how many times he played "airplane" with the spoon of creamed spinach, little Harry absolutely refused to open his mouth. They'd been going at it for half an hour and, quite frankly, Strange's arm was getting tired. He sighed and let the boy win. As far as he knew, no magic existed that could make a child eat something they didn't want to and, being the Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful practitioner of magic in the universe, that was saying something.

Strange turned to Harry's cousin, hoping to get a more cooperative attitude, but the look Dudley gave him was enough to give up the fight completely. "I get it, no more spinach." he said with a dramatic wave of his hand. The bowl and spoon disappeared, much to the delight of his two young charges. Their firmly closed mouths now opened excitedly and they began to speak in a mishmash of English and Mandarin, which Strange was vaguely able to understand. They were at the age where talking was one of their three major activities, and when the two of them got going, god only knew when they'd stop.

Of course, they'd started talking at least a year earlier, but the boys had really come far over the six months they'd been at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Wong's influence on them was quite pronounced, too, as they'd never even heard a word of Mandarin before being adopted by Strange. In fact, Wong was seeing them far more than he, Strange reminded himself guiltily. His duties as Sorcerer Supreme were quite extensive and kept him out of the house (physically or astrally), but if he was honest with himself, Strange knew that what really kept him from performing his parental duties was the simple fact that he was still clinging to his non-parental lifestyle. So, to make it up to Wong and the boys, he'd been relegating his duties to when the boys slept and made an effort to do more around the house.

It had turned into one of the greatest challenges of his life. After the first week, Strange realized he couldn't do all of it alone, at least not initially. And since he'd promised Wong to reduce the man's responsibilities towards the boys, Strange was forced to turn to outside help. Hiring a nanny had seemed like a marvelous idea at the time, but he hadn't counted on Harry and Dudley's ability to drive a woman nuts. It was hard enough to get a nanny that was trustworthy and could adjust to realities of magic at the Sanctum. Strange still hadn't been able to determine what the boys did to drive away the nannies, just that they did it with such efficiency and aplomb that a nanny could be expected to enter their employment on a Monday and leave exactly six days later. In fact, the only thing keeping the nanny agency sending people their way was the fact that Strange paid very, very well.

Overall, though, the boys were adjusting very well to their new home, perhaps a bit too well. When they had the opportunity to roam freely or escaped the notice of Strange or Wong, they managed to get up to and into all sorts of things. Many of these objects and places in the house were protected or hidden by magic, but this never seemed to stop Dudley and Harry. Strange expected as much of Harry who, in his opinion, had inherited the annoying habit wizards had of fooling around with magic they didn't understand. Dudley, on the other hand, was a complete mystery, because he had no magic of his own to help him get past magical protections. Because the two boys were nearly inseparable, Strange and Wong had initially assumed that whatever trouble they got up to was due to Harry's magic manifesting itself. Thus it came as quite a shock when one day they found Dudley all on his own, having a grand time running around the house in the form of a tiger cub while his cousin was napping in another room. He'd somehow gotten hold of a Cloak of Transformation, one which should have been secured in an invisible wardrobe in one of the mansion's closed off rooms. Neither of the men could explain it, and a test for magical affinity on Dudley came up with no conclusive or satisfying answers. It was simply something they would have to watch.

Strange looked at his two adopted sons, who were yammering away, completely oblivious to his presence, and smiled fondly. "Harry, Dudley, do either of you need to go to the bathroom?" As they were currently involved in the epic struggle to get potty-trained, he'd taken to asking them as often as possible.

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling and saying. "No, Unca Steef!" Harry hadn't quite gotten used to saying his full name correctly.

Dudley seemed to concentrate hard for a few moments before a look of total relief came over his face. He shook his head. "I don't need to, Unca Stephen." he said cheerfully.

It took a few moments for it to dawn on Strange what had just happened. Harry, though, beat him to the reaction. "Eww! Duddy went in his pants, Unca Steef!"

Indeed he had, and if the smell was any indication, it was going to be most unpleasant to clean up. Strange could only look horrified before resignedly summoning a bevy of supplies he'd need to clean up the mess that was surely lurking in Dudley's training diaper. Thus girded for battle, he began to unfasten the boy's pants, his face set in concentration on the task at hand. Strange imagined that his great foe, Dormmamu, would probably find it utterly hilarious to see the Sorcerer Supreme changing a diaper as if he were trying to vanquish a demon. With an amused little snort, Strange mused that Dormmamu had never had to actually _change_ one of Dudley's diapers before.

_**The Sanctum Sanctorum, June 1987**_

Many people have often wondered, to themselves or out loud, why the universe always seems to give you things at the moment that you're least prepared to receive them. Being far more in tune with the natural order of the universe and, indeed, being acquainted with various cosmic beings that formed the universe itself, Dr. Strange had long thought that he'd known the answer to that question. That was before he'd agreed to adopt Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley and raise them as his own sons. Only then did he really understand what ordinary people were getting at.

Not a year after the boys had come into his household, when he seemed to be getting the hang of the whole parenting thing, he'd suddenly found the demand for his unique skills increased a hundred-fold. Though he hated to admit it, Strange had always known that he was Sorcerer Supreme first and that everything else came second. Thus, he necessarily became a rather distant parent. Strange hated it, but if it came between driving an army of demons back into their dimension and attending a birthday party for little Dudley, he had to choose the demons. After all, there really was little point to seeing the boys off to their first day of school if he didn't make sure the school was still there by preventing an evil god from destroying existence.

Even when he was actually in New York, Harry and Dudley found that their adopted father was often caught up in helping his many superhero friends or dealing with other matters around the planet. Though he may have been at the mansion for days at a time, they could never guarantee that he wasn't astrally projecting himself around the world. Thus, three very busy years passed for the doctor, while Wong and a never-ending stream of nannies guided the boys. Strange was there when he could be, and he always promised to slow down, but it seemed to everyone that that time would be slow in coming. And like many workaholic parents, he learned, to his great shock, that he'd been missing out on some very important aspects of his sons' development.

It was a few weeks after Dudley's seventh birthday when the normally unflappable Strange came storming into the mansion looking absolutely livid. This generally meant only one thing: he'd had words with wizards. As he had divorced himself entirely from what he considered a bigoted and hypocritical community, he'd likely done so involuntarily. Case workers from the Department of Domestic Wizarding Affairs, a bureau in the government of the Magical States of America, had been sending weekly owls demanding to see Harry. He'd ignored them, only to have random wizards and witches accost him in the street, officially demanding the same. Finally, a very puffed up bureaucrat named Sean Pillsbury delivered a request from the department head, one Gilead Starsmoore, to discuss the matter. Thinking it'd be a good way to end their harassment, Strange had gone to the meeting, only to find that it was a set up. Instead of one man, he faced nine witches and wizards who made up the rough equivalent of a Supreme Court for the MSA. Not only that, but they'd also had the nerve to order him to comply with the DWA's request. Strange did something he'd rarely done; he'd lost his temper.

As he'd left the courtroom, his smoldering anger causing the robed wizards to jump out of his way, Strange had no doubt that his actions in the chambers would cause yet another firestorm across the globe. If they had only known how easily he could have leveled the entire building, they would not have acted with such arrogant presumption against him. That he would not do so, and that he had yet to really show his true power to nearly all wizards, was why they continued to act as if he were actually beholden to their commands. A lesson, it had seemed, was in order. Though he knew he would have to pay the price for it eventually, Strange had gladly taught the wizards what happened when they harassed the Sorcerer Supreme.

Strange did not know how long he'd been sitting at his throne of a chair, brooding and angry, before a familiar voice interrupted his musings. He looked blankly at the black-haired, green-eyed boy, his gaze flicking up to the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's head. His anger flashed, twisting his handsome features into a menacing snarl. "What is it? Are you here to cause me even more trouble?"

"No, I -"

"Quiet!" Strange shouted, silencing the boy. "Your kind have caused me quite enough trouble today. Now get out of my sight."

Harry's eyes shined for a moment before tears began leaking from his eyes. A hurt look crossed his face as a sob erupted from his throat, and he ran from the room. Strange looked darkly after the boy, unease creeping into his chest. It extinguished his anger, leaving only embarrassment and regret. He did not have long to ponder these feelings, for less than a minute later he heard the pounding of footsteps leading to his door. It was thrown open, revealing a very angry looking Dudley, who dragged his sobbing cousin into the room.

"You made Harry cry." he said, pointing an accusing finger at Strange. "He didn't do anything!"

Strange looked apologetically at his young charges. "Dudley, I know, I just -"

"I'll make you cry, see if you like it!" Dudley shouted, a few tears rolling down his face.

At first, Strange was taken aback at the threat, a defensive reply already on his lips. What stopped the words from leaving his mouth, though, was the look of fury on his adopted son's face and the way the boy had shaped his hands and pointed them at him. The pointer, pinkie, and thumb of Dudley's left hand all pointed out while the middle and ring fingers were folded into the palm. It was a perfect imitation of the way Strange used his hands to cast magic. He felt tingling on his skin, the tell-tale sign of magic gathering for a spell, and was struck dumb as Dudley recited an incantation that he did not recognize.

"_Dermo pustulatem calora!"_

He offered no defense; Strange's mind was far too boggled to attempt any. He was so surprised that he hardly noticed the unpleasant prickling of his skin. He could not ignore, however, the rather irritating stings that began to make themselves known all over his body. Looking down at his hands, Strange saw tiny pustules forming on his skin, burning angrily at the red, blistered ends. Trying to ignore the pain, he waved his hands, just as Dudley had, a silent spell in his mind. In an instant, his skin had returned to normal. Dudley blinked slowly at him, his expression a mix of disappointment, awe, and no small amount of fear. Behind him, Harry looked on, his tear-streaked face matching his cousin's, but also looking strangely hard. At his side, Strange could also see his free hand poised as if ready to cast a spell, just as Dudley had. Strange sighed deeply, shame burning in his chest, wondering how to fix the mess he'd made while, at the same time, his mind raced at the thought of the boys willfully doing magic.

"Harry, Dudley, please come here." he said kindly. Neither boy budged. "You're not in any trouble, I promise. I'd just like to apologize."

Slowly, reluctantly, they shuffled over to him. He knelt down before them, looking them both directly in the eyes. "I'm very sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I was very angry with some wizards today who are trying to meddle in your life. But it wasn't your fault, and I shouldn't have said it was. Can you forgive me?"

Harry seemed to think about it a few moments before he nodded vigorously, a smile curling his lips. Strange looked at Dudley, who looked apprehensive. "And Dudley, I'm very proud of you for standing up for Harry. You are going to be a great brother and friend to have, I think. Do you forgive me, as well?"

Dudley nodded as well. The fear and apprehension had faded from the boys' faces, much to Strange's relief. They rushed into his outstretched arms, hugging tightly, and Strange sighed deeply again. It was moments like this that he wondered why he'd never had children of his own. Perhaps later he would, but now he had two sons to keep him happy. "Dudley, Harry, if I ever yell at you again for no good reason, I give you permission to curse me again. I'll definitely deserve it."

He released them and reached out to dry their faces. "Now, who wants ice cream? Go wash up and we'll go get some, okay?"

The boys ran from the room excitedly, leaving Strange to look fondly after them. He stood slowly and dusted himself off before saying, to no one in particular: "So how long have you been teaching them magic, Wong?"

The old Chinese man seemed to appear from the shadowed corner of the large room. "I have only taught them basic spells, for when they are helping me about the mansion, and only ones that use the ambient magic of the Sanctum." he admitted. "I did not know that Dudley could do that curse. I did not teach it to him."

Strange raised an eyebrow at this. "Interesting. I don't recognize it either. It's possible he may have made it all up. Powered properly by a minor deity, it would probably be quite dangerous."

A look of alarm crossed Wong 's face. "Master, I shall cease instructing them immediately."

"No, no, don't do that." Strange said, waving his hand. He stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "I was planning to begin instructing them in a few years, but clearly they are ready now."

"They?"

"Yes, because I'm sure Harry can do anything Dudley can. I'm not around as much as I'd like, but even I can see how competitive they are with each other." Strange sat again in his chair, his eyes distant. "Starting on Monday, after school, I'd like you to begin properly instructing the boys in basic magic. I will leave it up to you to decide when they are ready for my tutelage. Open the library to them as well, though I'm sure they've been breaking into it for some time now.

"As you wish, Master." Wong said with a bow.

"Oh, and you're welcome to come with us."

"Thank you, Master, but I'm quite lactose intolerant." said Wong.

"Oh, right, forgot about it then." Strange said. He suddenly remembered something and called back his servant. "Oh, and Wong, I'm sure an owl will be arriving shortly with an angry letter from the MSA. Please respond and tell them that I'll release the spell at my leisure or if I receive a formal apology and assurances that the MSA will not attempt to further interfere in my or Harry's affairs. Also, let Dumbledore know that I expect to see him within the next few days to discuss how the MSA knew that Harry was here."

_**The Sanctum Sanctorum, August 1990**_

Time, Stephen Strange knew, was relative to the observer. For instance, while his two adopted sons and potential proteges often lamented about how much time things seemed to take, he was often left wondering why he had so little Three short years had flown by in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It was a period marked by much upheaval in Strange's professional and private life.

As Sorcerer Supreme, he'd taken it upon himself to battle many forms of evil and found himself overwhelmed. Thus, he'd formed not one but two groups of heroes, the Midnight Sons and the Defenders. With the Midnight Sons he'd battled supernatural forces, not the least of which was Dracula, and had recently managed to eradicate the vampire menace on Earth via the mystical Montessi Formula. With the Defenders, he'd helped defend the world against more traditional threats.

Oddly enough, during those years Strange had cut back on his active duty, instead working from home via astral projection and continuing to advise the heroes of New York City on various problems related to the occult. He'd learned his lesson of the years before, when he'd found that Dudley and Harry were learning magic on their own. He'd known then that they were at a delicate stage and was determined to be there to help guide them in the ways of magic. What Strange hadn't been expecting, though, was the prodigious rate at which his young charges began absorbing their lessons.

In retrospect, he probably should have seen it coming. The fierce but friendly rivalry between Harry and Dudley had made them top students at the private Montessori school they attended during the day. It had likewise advanced them tremendously in the martial arts, which Wong had begun teaching them when Harry had turned five. That very same rivalry propelled the boys quickly through their novice magic training. Within eighteen months, they'd learned all that Wong could teach them and were hungry to learn even more.

Another eighteen months had since passed and the boys had not ceased to amaze him. Strange had expected Harry to take to magic like a fish to water, being a wizard as he was. He had not expected Dudley to be just as quick on the uptake. If anything, Dudley was a somewhat better sorcerer. Harry, to his credit, worked hard to keep up, a task he made more difficult by refusing to access the natural magic that all real wizards had inside. Now, three years later, they were at a major turning point in their education which had to be passed in order to move on to the more powerful branches of magic.

"All right, boys, I trust your research has been fruitful?" he asked as he strode into the room, which had changed in some small but significant ways over the years. Around the walls were various diagram posters and charts which had titles like _Planes of Existence, Magical Sigils and Symbols, _and _The Hierarchy of Evocation. _In one corner was a jumbled pile of miscellaneous objects, in another were several mannequins that were charred, matching the wall behind. In the middle of the room, Strange's globe and his chair were no longer the centerpieces. Next to them were two long tables, pushed together, both with several precariously stacked columns of books and cluttered with loose papers and writing utensils. It was at these tables that Harry and Dudley were sitting, poring through a book and occasionally writing something down. When Strange entered, they both hopped from their seats eagerly.

The boys had grown noticeably over the interval. Harry had filled out some, thanks to Wong's cooking and exercise program, and he'd gotten taller, though not nearly as much as his cousin. Dudley was taller by a head and weighed more, though he'd lost most of the roundness that he'd had when he'd arrived at the Sanctum. Both sported the muscles and callouses of martial artists and, in a flattering bit of imitation, had their hair styled after Strange's own coif. Both were dressed in their school uniforms, their ties loosened and the sleeves on their white starched shirts rolled up to the elbows.

"One at a time, please." he said with a smile, settling into his seat. "Dudley, if you please?"

Dudley smirked at Harry, who rolled his eyes. "Right. So I settled on three, in case the first two were unwilling. Anansi the Spider God, Tyr, and L'moa the Wise."

Strange nodded. "Harry?"

"Well, I figured Dud would go with the safe picks, so I chose some less cooperative ones. Cyttorak -"

"Harry, I thought I said no demons." Strange said warningly.

"Fine, be a killjoy, why don'tcha?" said Harry, pouting. "Imhotep, Hermes, and Son Wu-Kong, then."

"Very well. Let's test whether these gods will be willing to give you a drop of their power, despite your lack of allegiance, fealty, or worship. If you've chosen wisely, your simple spell of levitation should work." said Strange. He already had a good idea of how their experiments would work out, but experience was the best teacher, especially when it came to magic. "If you're feeling confident, you can try levitating yourself. If you're really confident, do not say the incantation, or use an alternate incantation of your choice."

Strange resisted the urge to remind them to remain respectful, confident, and strong of will. Though they'd only siphoned the power of deities that they'd made some kind of payment to, these principles had been drilled into them by both he and Wong. They would be doubly important now, when they were making requests of foreign and possibly temperamental gods. The boys separated, never looking away from one another. When they reached their casting circles, they raised their hands in the casting form and began their incantations. Strange was completely unsurprised that they were doing a trial run with a deity that had already worked for them, Oshtur of the Vishanti. While it had not pledged any real power to his apprentices, Oshtur had agreed to grant them enough to perform apprentice-level magic. Strange smiled at his charges as they floated up to the rafters and down again.

The real challenge began in earnest. Both boys had a piece of paper out in front, reciting what they'd written. Strange recognized the rites of summoning for Imhotep and Anansi. The rites, when spoken correctly, would grant the speaker an audience, for the briefest of moments, with the deity. The speaker then had to make their request, the use of power in this case, and if it was granted, had only moments to harness or store the magical power. Strange was well acquainted with the process for every known deity, having successfully evoked their power on numerous occasions. Thus he knew that this first attempt would fail, as Harry had not enunciated well enough for the very precise Imhotep and Dudley had left a gaping loophole in his request to the trickster Anansi. Undaunted, the boys began again.

An hour and a half passed, during which Harry and Dudley made significant progress. Strange had to admit that he was impressed at their successes. He told them as much while critiquing their performance. "Good work, boys. Your rites are improving very well. Harry, better enunciation, it shows respect. Dudley, slow down a bit and be very specific. As for your choices, I was surprised by some of them and even more surprised that you were able to convince them. Imhotep is a solid choice for apprentices, as is L'moa the Wise. Tyr is generally accommodating, while Anansi is notoriously difficult. Son Wu-kong is likewise difficult, but kudos to you, Harry, for appealing to his Buddhist mentality. And Hermes is, of course, absolutely stingy with his power. So, two out of three for both of you, then."

The boys seemed pleased, but not overly so, and Strange was glad to see that. They'd almost succeeded but in magic, more often than not, almost didn't count. He knew they'd be working hard so that the next chance they had, they would not be refused.

"Dad, wait. We can't just let it be a tie." Dudley said, looking quite serious.

"Yeah, who did the best?" asked Harry eagerly, pointing at himself as if it were a foregone conclusion.

Strange sighed exasperatedly. "I honestly think you were both equal. But-" he raised his voice over their loud huffs. "Dudley's personal flight spell (as I'm assuming it is) seemed to be better defined. You need a bit more control, Harry. Your power's quite good, better than Dudley's, I think, but it's no good if you're struggling to control the spell. Work on it a bit more and come to me if you need any help, okay?" Harry nodded, the competitive fire glinting in his eyes. "And you, Dudley, aren't off the hook. I want you to look into how you can channel and focus more power into your spells.

"Now, since you both did such great work today, what do you say to dinner and a movie?" He asked, smiling.

"PIZZA!" Harry cried out, pumping his fist.

"No way, we had that last time." Dudley said, shaking his head. "Papaya King. It's on the way to the theater anyway."

Strange couldn't help but grin at the two. "Actually, I was thinking more of _real_ food, like -"

"Excuse me, Master, but Mr. Richards is on the telephone." Wong said, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

Strange raised an eyebrow, while his young charges both looked quite dismayed. "Did Reed say what he wants?" he asked.

"Ah. My apologies for not being more specific, Master. _Young_ Mr. Richards is on the telephone. He wishes to speak with either Harry or Dudley."

The dejected look quickly slid off the boys' faces, replaced with looks of excitement. "Dibs!" Harry shouted, bolting for the door, followed quickly by Dudley who, try as he might, couldn't keep up with his smaller and faster cousin. Strange looked at his long-time assistant and companion, who shrugged his shoulders and gave his master a commiserating look.

"Well, Wong, it's just you and I tonight, then."

Wong nodded as he followed Strange from the room. "You have foreseen this then, Master?"

Strange chuckled. "Not at all. I don't need the Inner Eye to know that if either Franklin Richards or Jack Power is calling, Harry and Dudley are going to sleep over."

A few minutes later, Harry and Dudley thundered into the dining room, where Strange sat, sipping a cup of tea.

"Dad! Can we -" began Dudley.

"Spend the night at the Richards'?" finished Strange, a small smile curling the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Harry asked, only looking half-surprised.

"Magic." Strange replied cryptically. "And you may, if Mr. and Mrs. Richards approve. Though I certainly did want to take you boys to the movies."

"We can still go tomorrow..." Harry said speculatively.

"It's a date, then. Wong will bring the car around."

Dudley waved his hands quickly. "No, no, that's all right, Dad. Franklin's sending one of the Fantasticars around. Should be here at any minute."

Strange nodded, noticing that both Harry and Dudley were carrying backpacks. "Well, that will save Wong a drive uptown, then. I believe the vehicle is outside now, so you'd best get moving. And be back at a reasonable time tomorrow morning."

The boys ran out of the room, waving back at him. "See ya later, Dad." said Harry before they disappeared.

"Do you think it wise to let them go, Master?" asked Wong quietly as he set a plate in front of Strange. "You know what they'll likely be doing tonight."

"Harry and Dudley can take care of themselves, and they'll be safe enough with the rest of the Power Pack. It does them good to associate with other children that, like them, have special powers." replied Strange, looking distant. "Besides, I've put a monitoring spell on them both, and I'm sure Reed's got his ways of looking out for Franklin. They'll be just fine."

Several miles away, Harry and Dudley zoomed across the New York skyline in a what amounted to a floating box propelled by rockets; the Fantasticar. Despite its looks, it was making easy work of the distance between Greenwich Village and the iconic Four Freedoms Plaza in the heart of downtown. Neither boy spoke to the other, as each was busy taking off their clothes, revealing tight-fitting white bodysuits with a large "P" emblazoned on the chest. They rummaged around in the bags for a few moments before pulling out second sets of clothing.

"He's gonna find out if we keep doing this." said Dudley, breaking the silence.

"Not if we keep our masks on." Harry grunted, pulling a long, hooded white robe over his head. He fastened a white belt around his waist and pulled on a pair of heavy duty white boots.

Dudley pulled on a similar robe, only it was black. Like Harry, he also put on a belt and boots which matched his robe. Unlike Harry's belt, though, a sword and scabbard hung from it, just over his left hip. Black, cuffed gloves and a contrasting white mask, which covered his face from forehead to nose, completed the costume. Next to him, Harry also put on white gloves and a similar white mask before rather impossibly pulling a long, gnarled staff from his backpack.

"Yeah, but Dad knows Jack's face, and he doesn't wear a mask." Dudley said.

"Yeah, well we're going to Frank's place, so there's no reason to suspect us." Harry replied with a shrug. "You're not gettin' cold feet, are you? I thought you wanted to be a hero."

"I do. I'm just worried that Dad'll find out. I hate keeping stuff secret from him."

Harry looked uncomfortable, but shrugged. "I know, but we gotta do it. He'd make us stop otherwise. We'll tell him eventually, when we've been at it a while and can show him we know how to take care of ourselves."

Dudley sighed, not completely convinced. "I guess..."

"It'll be fine, trust me." Harry said with a grin. "Anyway, we're almost at Four Freedoms. What say we work our magic and get some illusions going?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Richards are gonna want to see us at least once, so they've gotta be good." said Dudley as he began waving his hands.

"No, really? I'm glad I've got you here to tell me the obvious, Dud." Harry shot back, rolling his eyes as he, too, began to wave his hands. Almost in unison, the two began chanting, their hands glowing blue. Simultaneously, they each sent a blue sphere at the approaching building. Before the Fantasticar could get too close to the rooftop landing pad, Harry punched in a code on the panel. He jumped from the car, muttering the same flying spell he'd been practicing less than half an hour before. Below him, Dudley was doing the same thing. They floated a short distance, only as far as the balcony ledge that they knew led to Franklin's room. Harry rapped on the metal door with his staff.

"Harry? Dudley?" a muffled voice said from the other side of the door.

"No, it's Ed McMahon." Dudley said sarcastically. "C'mon, open up doofus."

The door swung in, revealing a blonde haired boy whose blue eyes danced with sparks of intelligence and mischief. Being two years younger than them, Franklin Richards was slightly shorter than even Harry. He grinned at them and ushered them inside. "Did Mom and Dad see you?" he asked.

"Sorta. The illusions should fool them into thinking we came in here for the night." said Harry.

"Excellent. Gimme a sec to suit up, then we can go meet up with the rest of the Pack." said Franklin as he scurried off to an adjoining room. Less than a minute later he returned wearing a green bodysuit similar to the ones they wore beneath their robes, along with thick metallic boots and metal bracers on his forearms. The boys raised their eyebrows at him. "What?"

"New suit?" asked Dudley.

"I may have borrowed some things from Dad, yeah." Franklin said with a grin.

Like his father, he was quite intelligent, to the point that he was actually in the same grade as Harry and Dudley. They'd been friends with Franklin for many years, as his parents were friends of their adopted father. They'd even shared the dream of becoming real superheroes, like their parents. In fact, it was their friendship with Franklin that got them to finally step forward and become real superheroes as a part of the Power Pack.

Franklin had been invited by the Power siblings to join their team during the year the Richards family had lived out in the suburbs of Connecticut. Harry and Dudley met Jack, Julie, Katie, and Alex Power during a visit with Franklin. Alex was the oldest at fourteen, followed by Julie, twelve, Jack, ten, and Katie, eight. Respectively, they went by the names Zero-G, Lightspeed, Mass Master, and Energize and called themselves the Power Pack. Harry and Dudley had hit it off well with the Powers over hamburgers and a rousing battle with the alien Snarks. Since then, like Franklin, Harry and Dudley had served as reserve members. With the Power family now living in the city, the Pack was seven strong and slowly making a name for itself among the super powered community.

"So what's up then? This had better be good; Dad was about to take us to Papaya King." Dudley said with a very slight pout. "It'd better not just be patrolling..."

"Man, how else are we gonna find the bad guys if we're not out looking for trouble?" Harry replied, shaking his head as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "We're trying to be real heroes, right? Even Spidey just swings around when it's slow."

"I think it's the real deal this time, and not just beating up some lame-o Snarks either." said Franklin as he stepped out onto the balcony and closed the door before giving a shrill whistle. "Katie said something about the Rhino and the Shocker."

Dudley snorted derisively. "Those idiots? Why don't we save ourselves the embarrassment and leave them to the cops?"

"C'mon, Dud, beating them is like a rite of passage." laughed Harry. Behind him, the Fantasticar floated over to the balcony. The three boys hopped in. "I don't think you get your super hero license if you haven't beaten them at least once."

"Yeah, it'll be a piece of cake, trust me!" Yelled Franklin over the rush of the wind.

Several hours later, Dudley was giving Franklin a decidedly frosty look as he waved his hands over the boy. "Piece of cake, he says. Franklin, if I wasn't healing you, I'd strangle you."

"What? How was I supposed to know they were forming a new Sinister Six? Ow!" Franklin said, flinching. His green suit was ripped in several places and his very banged up metal boots sat off to the side. "Besides, we won, right?"

This was true enough; Several blocks away, the battleground was scarred, smoking, and mysteriously covered in sand. As they spoke, the police were hauling off the Shocker, Rhino, Electro, Hobgoblin, Sandman, and the Vulture. Though they'd obviously won, the Power Pack was quite the worse for wear, mainly because they'd been taken by surprise. Since the numbers had been nearly even, they'd had to battle one on one. Harry and Dudley proved to be the deciding factor, since none of the bad guys knew the first thing about magic.

Dudley had a quick and explosive mid-air duel with the Hobgoblin, or at least it had seemed that way. In reality, a well controlled illusion led to the airborne menace blowing himself up with his own pumpkin bombs. At the same time Harry, who'd carefully studied the many villains that periodically cropped up in New York, rather recklessly trapped the Sandman in a small but strong tornado and deposited him in a large water tank on top of a nearby apartment building. A good portion of the collateral damage to the street had been done by this move alone. After that, Dudley helped Katie and Franklin, who were flagging slightly against Electro, while Harry helped Jack clip the Vulture's wings.

"You're lucky Katie can take a blast or twenty." said Alex with a frown.

"And that we've got two wizards on our side." Julie said with a grin.

"We're not wizards!" both Dudley and Harry said in unison and much more harshly than seemed necessary.

"Ohhhhkay." Julie, looking at them uncertainly. Jack punched her on the arm.

"Stupid, I told you not to call them wizards!" said Jack.

"Well, technically Harry _is_ a wizard..." said Dudley with a small smirk.

"Hey, shut up fathead, that's not my fault!" Harry shot back heatedly. "I didn't ask to be one!"

The other kids, except for Franklin, Dudley, and Jack looked at the two with bewildered expressions. "What's so bad about being a wizard? It sounds like fun." said Katie.

"Because wizards are two-bit wand jockeys with dumb ideas about magic and which people should be allowed to do it." replied Dudley, just before Harry punched him hard in the chest. "Ouch! Except Harry. Geez, calm down Mr. Sensitive!"

"We're not supposed to talk about that, remember?" Harry said between gritted teeth.

Dudley shrugged. "Chill out, man. They know about magic already, it won't hurt them to hear about wizards."

Harry gave a defeated sigh. "Fine. Look, my parents were wizards, okay? But I'm not like the other wizards, I don't think I'm better than non-wizards. I don't care who you are, you can do magic if you want to. That's why we don't like being called wizards."

"That, and we don't need a stupid little stick to do some real magic." Dudley added with a chuckle.

"So...what do we call you, then?" asked Alex.

"We're sorcerers. Well, at least we will be when we're done with our apprenticeships with our dad." said Harry. "Sorry we blew up at you, Julie, it's just...I just don't want to be like them."

Harry kicked Dudley in the shin. "Ow! What was that – oh, oh right. Uh, yeah, sorry about that, Jules."

"Don't worry about it. I get mad when people call me a nerd, too."Julie said with a smile. She reached out and ruffled Harry's messy black hair playfully. Harry's ears turned rather red. "Of course, I don't have a neat little scar that'd shut them up, either."

"It's, uh, it's not _that_ special." Harry mumbled, fighting to hide a pleased smile. Franklin, Dudley, and Jack all made loud retching noises.

"Dud, your brother's getting all weird again." Franklin said disgustedly.

"Well, you know how he is around Julie." Dudley replied, shaking his head.

"Oh shut up, you two." Julie said, rolling her eyes. She shot a small smile at Harry.

"Hey, you're not helping, Julie. Harry's gonna be all weird like Alex thanks to you." said Jack.

Harry cleared his throat, an annoyed look on his face. "I'm right here, you know."

The argument went no further because at that moment Katie let out a jaw-cracking yawn, a signal they all knew meant the end of their night's adventuring. "I think that's enough for tonight, guys." said Alex, picking his little sister up and carrying her piggyback. "We'll let you three know next time we're doing something."

"Cool. See ya 'round, guys." said Franklin. He whistled, and the Fantasticar zoomed towards them.

"Later dudes." added Dudley, hopping into the flying vehicle once it stopped. Harry followed closely behind. "Oh Julie, Harry says bye, and he'll be thinking abou – OUCH! Stop kicking the same shin, Harry!"

Harry felt his face go hot while Julie laughed at them. He smiled weakly at her and waved, thinking to himself about how best to get back at his cousin.

"Bye Harry." she replied with a lopsided smile and a wink before turning around and flying after her siblings. He watched her go, his heart feeling just a bit lighter, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"There he goes again." Dudley said, nudging Franklin, who had been dozing. "Now it's gonna be 'Julie this' and 'Julie said that' for the next week. She's just a girl, Harry. What's so great about her?"

Harry didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. "She just is." he said, shrugging. "What you really should be asking is whether I can get Anansi to give me some of his power, 'cause if I do, you're gonna be _so_ sorry."

Dudley swallowed nervously at the mischievous look on his cousin's face. Knowing Harry's ability to do difficult things when challenged, he'd definitely be sleeping very lightly and with a dozen protection enchantments for the next week.

_**The Sanctum Sanctorum, July 1991**_

Birthday parties in the Strange household were always quite an affair. The combination of Dr. Strange's fame, the popularity of Dudley and Harry, and the intrigue of the magically imbued Sanctum Sanctorum proved irresistible to many of the boys' classmates and friends (and often their parents). Because their birthdays were so close together, they always had a big, combined party. Wong and Strange, quite independent of one another, tried to outdo themselves each year, though in very different ways. Wong preferred to make his mark in very low key and subtle ways, such as animating a thousand paper cranes as party favors. Strange, on the other hand, made large and ostentatious displays, such as the ski hill he conjured in one room of the mansion.

For this, the eighth birthday party since arriving at the Sanctum, things were looking to be even more interesting. Besides their entire class at school and quite a few younger and older students who counted among the boys friends, Harry and Dudley had also invited their close friends, Franklin Richards and the four Power children, Jack, Katie, Julie and Alex. In the tradition of most parents, Strange had invited some of his own friends, many of whom were personally acquainted with both Harry and Dudley. These included some of the more famous superheroes in America, such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, though they all agreed to attend in civilian garb so as not to cause too much of a stir.

Albus Dumbledore, however, knew nothing at all of the plans for the celebration, thus he was quite unprepared for the sight that greeted him when he apparated just outside of the mansion. He hardly recognized the place, as the normally dark and imposing mansion now stood bright and cheerful in the blazing July sun. The sound of children's laughter and music drifted over the fence, and he could smell the woody smoke of a grill at work. Indeed, even the normally austere facade of the building was now draped with multi-colored streamers and foil balloons that drifted lazily in the slight breeze.

For a moment, Dumbledore was slightly angry and more than a little stung that he had not received an invitation; for a moment, he even considered returning to England and simply sending an owl later. With a shake of his head, which caused his wizard's hat to slide precariously forward on his head, he pushed these feelings away. He had arrived on arguably the most important day of any young wizard's life, the day they turned eleven, and he had important business to discuss with young Harry. He had all the time in the world later on to wonder why he'd never been invited to any of Harry's birthday parties.

After ringing the doorbell several times, he felt a sudden urge to walk around to the side entrance, which he somehow knew would lead directly to the back garden, where guests were being received. _Wong,_ he said to himself, following the path around to the side entrance. The old Chinese man's charms were rather skillful and, indeed, would have been imperceptible to any other wizard. It was far more subtle than any compulsion charm he'd ever learned.

The first thing Dumbledore noticed about the back garden was that it was markedly cooler than it ought to have been. He recognized the faintest traces of ambient energy that seemed to surround the property, giving him the explanation for the suddenly pleasant breezes. The second thing he noticed was that the back garden was bustling with activity. Children ran about, chattering with one another and occasionally returning to a huge and well stocked buffet. Nearby, adults and a few older teens chatted and relaxed on comfortable looking lawn furniture. He saw Wong conversing with a man who looked to be a butler, and between the two of them, orders were being given to young men and women in aprons who were obviously the wait staff.

Dumbledore felt a tug on his robes and, looking down, saw a young boy who looked to be around eight years old trying to get his attention. "Hey mister, are you here for the magic show?"

"Magic...show?" Dumbledore asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, they said there'd be a magic show, and you look just like a wizard I saw on TV, so you must be the magician, right?" the boy rambled on. "So what kinda magic are you gonna do? I hope it's not nothing stupid like pulling a rabbit out of a hat."

"Young man, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a part of this 'magic show'."

The boy gave him a strange look. "Well why're you dressed like that, then?" And he ran off.

Shaking his head, Dumbledore continued on, looking about for Strange. The boy's comments about his clothes turned out to be fitting, because he really did stand out amongst the much more casually dressed muggles at the party. He considered going into the house to transfigure something more appropriate, but before he could, a strong hand grasped his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.

"Albus, what a pleasure to see you again." said a falsely pleasant voice. "And a surprise, seeing as I didn't invite you."

"An accidental oversight, I'm sure." Dumbledore replied in an equally false tone,. "It's good to see you again, Stephen. Your party seems to be going over quite swimmingly."

"I try to make sure the boys enjoy their birthdays." Strange said. "But I'm sure you didn't leave your ivory tower and come all this way just to get a slice of birthday cake. So what can I do for you?"

"To business as usual then, Stephen? Very well." Dumbledore sighed. "I'm here to discuss Harry's magical education. As he is now eleven, he's old enough to attend a magical institution of learning."

"Such as Hogwarts?" asked the doctor, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Hogwarts in particular. As you know, he's been down to attend since birth. However, he has not received a formal invitation. I'm here to deliver his letter" Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a thick, yellow envelope. He held it out for Strange to take, but the man did not reach for it.

"I think you should deliver it to the recipient, don't you?" he said.

Dumbledore frowned, but nodded. "Yes, I suppose that does make sense. Is Harry nearby?"

"I'm sure he's around somewhere. Actually," Strange looked down at his watch. "he should be on stage right about now."

Strange pointed across the yard to a small raised dais, upon which sat two chairs, a small table, and a large glass box. Most of the children ran over and sat down just in front of the dais, while the adults sauntered over and looked on with slightly amused smiles on their faces. One of the adults, a black haired man with a wide smile who wore stylish sunglasses and a t-shirt emblazoned with a large red "W", broke away from the crowd and stepped up onto the dais, holding a microphone. He waved for quite, cleared his throat, and began speaking.

"Everyone, let me have your attention, please." he said in a clear and pleasant voice. "I've just spoken with the birthday boys, and they've got something special planned. First, though, let me hear it if you're ready for some magic!"

The children all hooted and cheered loudly, to the amusement of the adults. The man's smile grew even wider (Dumbledore thought it might even put Gilderoy Lockhart to shame), and pointed off to the side. For the first time, Dumbledore got a glimpse of the two boys he hadn't seen, except in pictures, for nearly eight years. "All right! Let's keep it going, gang! Here they are, the birthday boys themselves, Harry and Dudley, the Brothers Strange!"

The crowd clapped louder as Harry and Dudley took to the dais, waving and bowing dramatically. They looked, by all accounts, like miniature versions of Strange. Their hair was fashioned much like Strange's, though Harry's hair seemed to be fighting whatever was keeping it in place. They even wore similar high collared cloaks and white gloves. The only real differences were the t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers they wore. They waved for everyone to sit and, when everyone had settled down, Harry spoke.

"Hey everybody, glad you could make it. Everyone having a good time?" he asked. The children collectively agreed, and a small round of applause broke out.

"Glad to hear it. You can thank dad and Wong for putting this party together." said Dudley. Harry nudged him and whispered something. "Oh right, and Jarvis too. You the man, Jarvis!"

Laughter floated through the crowd for a few moments. A boy in the crowd, whom Dumbledore recognized from earlier, yelled out "What about the magic show?"

"Right, about that," said Dudley, sounding hesitant. "We didn't find a magician for the show."

"Because," Harry began, but disappointed voices drowned him out. He raised his voice. "Because we figured we could do a better job than some dork with a top hat and fake wand." This quieted them quickly. "That's right, I know everyone's wanted to see some real magic since...I dunno, how long Dud?"

"Practically since everyone found out our dad is Dr. Strange." Dudley said with an amused snort.

"Right, so we asked him, and he said it was okay to do a little show today."

The crowd began excitedly murmuring. The same boy's hand shot up, and Harry nodded at him. "Wow, so you're saying you and Dudley can do real magic?"

"Well, yeah, a little. Nothing spectacular." Harry replied nonchalantly.

"We couldn't help but learn a little bit, not with where we live, right?" Dudley added, grinning. "Anyway, Harry, why don't we do our first trick? It's a fun little game everyone can play. We like to call it 'Whose Wallet is in the Box?'"

Dumbledore, who'd been uneasy since the beginning of their act, became completely alarmed as they performed their first bit of magic. Dudley waved his hands over the glass box, muttering to himself, and as he did so, white mist began to swirl faster and faster inside. Finally, with a muffled pop, a brown leather wallet appeared, spinning slowly as it hovered inside the box.

"Stephen, are you mad?" Dumbledore hissed furiously. "Teaching Harry and Dudley magic? And not even having the sense to keep it hidden from muggles! It goes against every law-"

"Don't presume to lecture me in my own house, Albus. Those are wizard laws, which I've demonstrated quite clearly that I neither recognize nor respect, and I am not beholden to them." Strange cut across, his voice sharp. Dumbledore could feel the man's power expand ever so slightly, and his skin prickled in response. "Believe it or not, magic isn't for wizards to horde, nor is it some big secret that non-wizards have yet to fathom. We're not dumb animals that need blinders to get on with our lives. Already we know about men who can do impossible things like fly and shoot energy from their hands. Hell, almost everyone in New York has heard of me and what I do. The idea that magic is real is a small drop in a very large bucket."

"That can't be possible. Muggles don't all believe in the existence of magic." Dumbledore insisted.

"Well of course not, but plenty of non-magical people don't believe in evolution either, and it doesn't stop others from believing the truth. Your little secret society wastes so much time keeping a secret that's been out for hundreds of years, and you would know this if you'd come off your high horses and actually interact with us, instead of holing up in your little enclaves. You all have the audacity to say that _we're_ the ones that are ignorant. We know more about the real world than you wizards can possibly understand." Strange said fiercely.

Dumbledore was caught momentarily speechless at Strange's diatribe. He considered himself quite knowledgeable of muggles; indeed, he was probably one of the best informed wizards on muggle affairs that was not muggleborn. And yet Strange's assertion that magic was not only known, but accepted as reality by a large percentage of muggles had dumbfounded him. He decided to consider this revelation later, when he had time to properly think on it. Now was not the time to argue with Strange. Instead, he chose another topic of reproach.

"And what of teaching magic to them? They are far too young, and I'm sure such parlor tricks are not all you taught them." He said sternly. "Further, _your type_ of magic is hardly suitable for children."

Strange's face twisted into a mask of barely contained anger. "I am Harry and Dudley's guardian and I have the right to educate them as I see fit." He bit out slowly. "And as the undisputed most powerful magic practitioner on this planet, I'd say I'm more than qualified to ascertain whether Harry and Dudley are ready to learn what I teach them. I certainly have many times more years of experience with practicing and teaching magic than you, so I'll thank you to not question my judgment."

For a moment, Dumbledore did a very convincing impression of a fish as he attempted to respond. With a sigh, he looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he looked back up at Strange, he looked genuinely apologetic.

"You are correct as ever, Stephen. I was quite out of line. Please accept my apologies." Strange grunted noncommittally, which Dumbledore took as a sign to continue. "Understand, though, that I was not trying to question your judgment -"

"Yes, you were."

"- I was merely trying to understand your rationale, especially for teaching Dudley."

Strange stared at him penetratingly. "They've been performing simple household magic since the age of five. Dudley was the first of the two to do a spell in front of me, and it was not something that Wong had taught them. They're naturals, Albus, and they're good, and I refuse to let that potential go to waste." He looked back up at the stage, where Harry was turning a rabbit's fur green while Dudley, presumably, kept it levitated. "What they're doing up there, they've been able to do it for years. It's child's play."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Years?"

Strange shrugged and smiled. "They learn fast and they push each other to be better. I finally had to take them on as apprentices when they turned ten." After a minute of silence, during which Dumbledore watched the boys with growing incredulity and consternation, Strange spoke again. "If you're worried about Harry not having any need to attend magic school, you shouldn't be. Harry does not have a wizard's wand and I haven't bothered to teach him any of _your type_ of magic."

This seemed to shake Dumbledore out of his stupor. "Well, I suppose I have not wasted a trip after all, then." he said, watching the crowd of boys and girls and parents clap as the boys took a bow. The show was over, and Harry and Dudley were soon surrounded by their friends, who were clapping them on the back and giving them congratulations. "You do know that the American authorities will erase the memories of magic from your guests, don't you?"

Strange smirked and folded his arms across his chest. "They can certainly try, though I would immediately know if they did and it would displease me greatly. After what happened the last time the MSA did something to displease me, I'd think they'd be wary of trying anything else."

"Yes, I remember it well. You very nearly had the Americans overrun with Russian wizards and their allies. It took every ounce of my diplomatic skills to prevent a war." Dumbledore said darkly. "That did not make you any friends among the International Confederation of Wizards. If I'm not mistaken, you are still banned from Europe."

"Am I really? Strange that no one ever attempts to enforce those orders." Strange chuckled. "And the MSA ended up just fine. I've heard not a peep from them since then."

"Because you forced them to write magically binding oaths into their constitution that would prevent any government employee from contacting you, except in life-threatening emergencies." Dumbledore replied stiffly."And you caused them no small amount of embarrassment."

"The best way to get your point across to someone is to speak a language that they can understand." Strange said with a shrug. "And here are the boys."

Harry and Dudley approached them, flanked by several other boys and girls that all seemed to be around the same age. They were all chattering animatedly, and one boy was clearly trying to act out one of the magic tricks with his hands. They stopped at the two men, who both smiled down at them.

"How'd we do?" asked Dudley.

"It was acceptable, though there was room for improvement." Strange replied. "But I think it went over well."

"Heya, Doc Strange." said one of the boys. "Who's the old dude?"

The other children snickered behind their hands, though Harry and Dudley didn't join them. Instead, they looked at Dumbledore with narrowed eyes, as if they'd seen him before and were trying to remember where.

"This is Professor Albus Dumbledore, an old family friend. He's a wizard." Strange said, smirking at Dumbledore's short fit of surprised coughing. "Albus, this is Jack, Katie, and Julie Power, Franklin Richards, and Cassie Lang."

All of the children said hello, except, again, Harry and Dudley, whose expressions had gone from curious to hostile. Dumbledore saw them shoot questioning glances at Strange, who shook his head slightly, and they nodded. Slightly discomfited, he smiled benignly at the children. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I trust the magic display was...enlightening?"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." said Julie Power, though she didn't seem nearly so excited as the rest of the crowd had been. In fact, none of the children before him seemed all that impressed, except Jack Power. Dumbledore said as much.

"Oh, well it's not like we've never seen magic before." said Franklin Richards with a shrug.

Cassie nodded, brushing a strand of her blonde hair from her face. "Yeah, though it's not quite like the Scarlet Witch's magic."

"Scarlet...Witch?" Dumbledore said, confused.

"Yeah, you know, one of the Avengers?" said Katie, as if it was obvious. She turned and pointed in the direction of the adults in the far corner of the garden. "That's her, over there."

"I can't say that I've ever heard of her." Dumbledore admitted. "Or the 'Avengers'."

"Why am I not surprised?" Harry said derisively. "Wizards aren't so quick on the uptake, I guess."

"Only if it's about a 'proper' witch or wizard." Dudley agreed. "At least that's what I've heard."

"Behave, you two." Strange said, shooting a stern look at them. "Children, if you'll excuse us, Harry and Dudley and I have a few things to discuss with Mr. Dumbledore. I'll send them back out shortly."

A few minutes later, they were standing in Strange's study, which Dumbledore had not visited in nearly five years. It had changed quite a bit, but having heard that the boys were Strange's apprentices, he was not completely surprised. As rooms tended to when used by magic practitioners, it had the tell-tale signs of being utilized by the three people in front of him. What was slightly unnerving was the extent to which Harry and Dudley had made their marks on the room in such a short time. Strange, it seemed, had not been exaggerating about the abilities of his young charges.

"Go ahead, Albus." Strange said with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you, Stephen. Harry, I'm -"

"I know who you are." interrupted Harry. "Dad's told me all about you."

"Ah. Well, that does shorten things a bit. To business then: I've brought you something, which I thought we could discuss." he said, pulling out the yellow envelope. Harry looked at him with a blank expression before raising his hand and muttering something. The letter slipped from his grasp and zoomed across the room and right into Harry's hand.

"My Hogwarts letter, huh? Let me guess: 'you're invited, get back with us, oh and here's your school supply list.' That about right?" He said, not even bothering to open the letter.

"That does cover the essentials, yes." Dumbledore agreed.

"Okay, then it can go on the pile with the rest of them." Another wave of Harry's hand sent the letter zooming over to one of the desks, where it dropped unceremoniously on top of a small pile of parchment. Dumbledore recognized a few of the seals on them.

"You've gotten invitations from other schools?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, Harry's real popular, didn't ya know?" volunteered Dudley with a slight chuckle.

"All the American schools hand delivered their letters; Salem, U.S. Academy of Magical Sciences, Madame Rocquelaure's, and Chief Hialeah's. Even a few foreign schools like Beauxbatons and Amazonia have come by." Strange said nonchalantly. "Apparently, since someone let slip that Harry was living outside of Britain, everyone's assumed that he's a free agent. I imagine having the Boy-Who-Lived at your school must be quite a distinction."

Dumbledore had stiffened, his eyes narrow. "Stephen, you promised me..."

"Yes, I did, but things change. I want to do what's right for Harry, and believe it or not, that may not always match up with what you've got in mind." Strange gave him a hard look. "But if it makes you feel any better, Harry has turned down the other offers."

Dumbledore looked at Harry, a look of relief on his face. "Harry, I'm glad to hear this, as we have looked forward to your arrival at Hogwarts for some time. However, these were very prestigious magical schools. If you don't mind my asking, why did you turn them down?"

Harry stared at him, almost as if he had asked an incredibly stupid question. "I turned them down for the same reason I'm turning you down." Harry ignored the look of shock on the man's face. "Because you came here and you brought one letter. ONE LETTER!"

Harry slammed his fist into the table with a loud crack. Dumbledore gaped at the suddenly livid eleven year old whose green eyes seemed to spark dangerously.

"Did you even see what we were doing today? I wasn't the only one up on the stage doing magic. Dudley's as good at magic as I am, but no one _ever _brings him one of those stinking letters! Why? Answer me that."

"Harry, that's not how it works. These are wizarding schools, for wizards only. Dudley didn't get a letter because he's not a wizard." He replied carefully.

"So what? He can do magic, just like any wizard. I bet Dud could run circles around any of the students at your school." Harry sneered. "But that's not good enough for you _wizards_ is it? Scared one of the normal people will show you up, huh? Gotta have all the magic to yourselves, horde it like a dragon and its treasure!"

"Harry, that's enough." Strange said quietly. Harry looked from Dumbledore to him and back again before slowly inclining his head in acquiescence. Strange turned to the headmaster. "I think you have your answer, Albus."

"Harry, please reconsider. Hogwarts is the best place for you. Your parents wanted you to attend." Dumbledore said quickly.

"Maybe," Harry said, shrugging. "But my dad says I get final say so on which school I go to. And I don't want to go to any school that's gonna practice magic discrimination."

Dumbledore looked at the three of them, his eyes finally settling on Dudley, who'd been mostly quiet thus far. It was finally dawning on him what Harry was getting at. "You want me to invite Dudley to Hogwarts." he said, voice faltering. Harry nodded; the blank expression had returned to his face. "Harry, you must realize how extremely difficult it would be to do what you're asking. Bureaucracy, parents, the reaction of the wizarding world. These are difficult barriers to break down, even for your sake. Not even a squib has attended Hogwarts, much less a muggle."

"Then I don't think we have anything else to talk about." said Harry dismissively.

There was silence for a few moments as Dumbledore collected his thoughts. Finally, he spoke again, and this time there was the slightest hint of pleading in his voice. "A compromise, then. Attend Hogwarts this year, and you have my word that I'll do whatever it takes to get Dudley admitted for the start of the next school year. With both your influence and mine, I'm sure we can clear the way for him."

Harry shook his head, a sigh of frustration escaping his lips. "You just don't get it, do you? There's nothing to compromise about. Either we both can go, or neither of us can."

Dudley coughed loudly. "Harry, I appreciate it, really, but you don't have to do this."

"Yeah, I think I do." Harry said, looking resolutely at both Strange and Dumbledore. "Dumbledore, get Dudley a spot at Hogwarts and I'll go. Otherwise, forget about it."

Dumbledore fought to keep the disappointment from showing on his face, and he was mostly successful. He nodded his head in acceptance and sighed. "Very well, Harry. I do hope you reconsider, as Hogwarts really is a fine school and I've no doubt you'd do well there."

"If you say so." Harry replied, shrugging noncommittally. "Do you want the letter back?"

"No, it belongs to you, as does a place at Hogwarts, should you ever decide to attend while you are still of age." said Dumbledore. "The political winds are ever changing, and it may be that, very soon, the barriers which keep you from the halls your parents once roamed will be removed."

Dumbledore rose to his feet and turned towards Strange. "Stephen, I've intruded upon your celebration quite enough to be getting on with. Thank you for seeing me. And you, Harry and Dudley, I commend you on your progress with magic and hope you are able to put it to good use. Please expect an owl from me within the coming weeks, as I rather embarrassingly neglected to bring a present to your party, and I'd like to rectify that oversight."

The boys nodded at him, looks of genuine surprise on their faces. Strange rolled his eyes, but excused them to return to the party. As the boys left, the two men followed behind much more slowly and in silence. When they had disappeared back down the main stairs, heading towards the garden, Dumbledore broke the silence. "That did not go quite as I'd planned." he admitted. "I did not expect Harry to be so stubborn, and over a rather minor detail."

Strange stared incredulously at the man, then let out a bark of laughter. "A minor detail? Those boys have been as close as twins ever since they've been here. They do everything together and they will defend one another like a lioness protects her cubs. In their minds, there is nothing in the world worth doing if they can't do it together. And you waltzed in here, asking Harry to make a choice between his brother and Hogwarts. Of course you failed."

"And their anti-wizard sentiments, they had nothing at all to do with it?" Dumbledore said quietly.

"I'm not perfect, Albus, but I haven't lied to them about the wizarding world or my feelings for it, nor have I kept them from learning about it on their own." retorted Strange. "And don't try to foist the blame on me just because you lack perspective."

"Really? Well please, by all means enlighten me." Dumbledore said, visibly bristling.

Strange's face darkened and a small frown spread across his lips. "Gladly. You see, you left an emotionally devastated three year old on my hands without so much as a look backwards. When they arrived, Dudley was a wreck, completely inconsolable. He understood that his parents were gone, but he didn't understand why, and it was tearing him apart. And you know what brought him around? Harry. Because he'd been through it all. He'd been abused, and the abuse sharpened the pain of loss he felt for parents he barely remembered. Harry knew what it was like to be alone. It didn't matter that Dudley had been one of his abusers. All that mattered was that his last remaining family member was hurting, and he wanted to make it stop.

"That's why they're so close today, and why you'll fail every time you try to come between them. Harry's not you; he's not going to forget what it's like to be close to his brother." Strange stopped abruptly, covering his mouth and looking mortified. Dumbledore stiffened, his knuckles clenched tightly. "Albus, I...look, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, I had no right."

"No, you damn well did not." Dumbledore said stonily, his brows furrowed. "I'll let myself out, if you don't mind. Good day."

As the elderly man swept out of the hall, his robes flapping in his wake, Strange cursed himself and wondered why he and Albus Dumbledore could never seem to personally get things right.

_**The Sanctum Sanctorum, June 1993**_

"Well, that didn't quite go according to plan." Dr. Strange said sardonically. Harry and Dudley answered with disgruntled huffs, mostly because they we both quite out of breath.

They heaved themselves into chairs, unfastening their cloaks and throwing them off as they did so. Quite unlike their adopted father, the boys looked a mess. Their faces were dirty and sweaty and their clothes were ripped in some places. Their arms were covered in thin, shallow cuts, and Harry even had three long ones on his face where a daemonling had scored a lucky hit. Dudley had fared only slightly better, sporting a black eye and a gouge in his right shoulder. As the boys struggled to calm their breathing Strange, too, removed his cloak, draping it around his throne-like chair.

"I'm assuming you were successful, then?" He asked them. The boys nodded, each rummaging in their pockets. They both extracted a stone, one green and the other blue, dropping them into Strange's hand. He held them up to the light, examining the stones closely, and then smiled approvingly. The boys let out sighs of relief, sagging into their chairs.

"Well done, my young apprentices, at least in achieving your objective. Though how a stealth recovery turned into a lopsided firefight with daemonlings is beyond me. You're both very fortunate that my distraction spell occupied Belasco and his archdemons for the duration. Would either of you care to explain what happened?"

They both squirmed before Harry spoke up. "It's all my fault, Dad. I was impatient. I didn't cast a strong concealment spell, and I didn't protect against any revealing enchantments." He looked down at his hands. "Sorry. I'll do better next time."

"Dad, don't listen to him. It was my call to split up, even though you said to stick together." insisted Dudley.

"I see." said Strange, stroking his goatee. "And whose call was it to blast your way out of the castle?"

The boys gave him confused looks. "We were being attacked." said Dudley. "I just wanted to find Harry and get out of there, but daemonlings were in the way."

"Yeah, we had to do something." agreed Harry.

"You were outnumbered and out gunned.. You should've used your skills to run and hide and then slip out of the castle in the chaos." scolded Strange. "Yes, you are both powerful, but that does not mean you should use brute force for every problem you face. There is more to being a great sorcerer than knowing powerful spells. Don't get so distracted by your magic that you forget to use your primary weapon." Strange tapped head for effect.

"This will not pass without some repercussions, and I want you both to be mindful of that. Had it gone to plan, Belasco would have been unaware of your presence, even after he discovered his stones were missing. Now, he is aware of you both, but he does not know your identities. I'll take steps to insure he cannot discover them here on Earth. However, should you ever return to Limbo, he will know, and he will want to exact revenge for stealing these stones." Strange's stern look slowly softened. "But I've no doubt that, next time you visit that realm, you'll be more than able to defend yourself against him.

"Now then, go get cleaned up, and when you return, we'll see about combining these gems with your cloaks."

Harry and Dudley nodded. They slowly rose to their feet and shuffled out of the room. It was a mark of how tired they really were that, despite the prospect of learning how to enhance their magical cloaks with the demon's gems, they did not seem to be in much of a hurry.

Half an hour later, freshly showered, energized, and healed up, Harry and Dudley returned to the study. Instead of finding their father preparing their cloaks, though, they found him sitting in tense silence with a man they hadn't seen in almost two years. He smiled at them pleasantly, perhaps even eagerly. "Hello Harry and Dudley. My, it has been quite a while, and I dare say you've grown like weeds since last we met."

Albus Dumbledore sat in a comfortable looking chintz chair, eyes twinkling like stars in the night sky behind his half-moon glasses. This time, Harry could sense a difference in the man's demeanor. He seemed quite confident and pleased with himself, and Harry was certain that, whatever it was Dumbledore wanted, it had to do with him. It made him very uneasy, and Harry found that the best way to put himself at ease was to throw the other person off balance.

"Professor Dumbledore, what a surprise." he said, putting on his best imitation of his adopted father. "This is kinda a bad time, though, and we're very busy with _important_ things. I hope you don't mind."

Dumbledore's smile didn't waver. "Yes, Stephen told me. Worry not, dear boy, for this will not take long."

Harry sat in his chair, not taking his eyes off the old wizard. "I'm sure. So what is it, then?"

"If I had to guess," Dudley volunteered before Dumbledore could speak, "I'd say the good professor is hear to make good on your agreement."

Dumbledore inclined his head at Dudley in agreement while Harry looked at his cousin with a questioning look. "C'mon, Harry, don't be dense. Look what he's got in his hand. Letters. _Two_ letters."

Harry whipped his head back around and saw the two thick parchment envelopes in Dumbledore's wrinkled hands. He looked from them to the man's face, which was smiling with satisfaction, and he snorted with disgust. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm happy to say that I am not, Harry." Dumbledore said. The letters lifted from his hand and zoomed towards Harry and Dudley, who plucked them from the air. "You've both been given a place at Hogwarts for the coming school year. I think you'll find everything is in order."

The boys tore open the letters and read through them carefully. Dudley finished first, and he leaned back, looking grudgingly impressed. "Well, it looks on the level. I just didn't think it'd happen before we were great-grandfathers."

Harry threw his down on the table almost angrily. "Yeah, it's legit all right." he said sourly. "But don't sit there grinning like the cat that ate the canary. If it's all the same to you, I'll pass."

Three stunned pairs of eyes looked at him, and none were more stunned than Dumbledore's. "Now Harry, I've worked very hard to get this done for you. You agreed to come to Hogwarts if I did this for you."

Harry shook his head, a small smirk on his mouth. "No, I said I would, but we didn't make an agreement. There's nothing holding me to it, not even my word of honor. I only said that to get you off my back. I didn't think you'd actually try to make it happen."

Anger flashed over Dumbledore's face for the briefest moment. He quickly schooled his face, but Harry could see the look of betrayal in his eyes. "Then all my work has been for naught. I had hoped we could come to an understanding, Harry, and that perhaps you would get a chance to see a different perspective of your kind. Clearly I was being needlessly optimistic." He rose to his feet and nodded at Strange, who seemed unsure of what to do. "Stephen, thank you for seeing me, despite the lateness of the hour. If you all will excuse me."

He'd almost reached the door before he was stopped by Dudley's voice. "Professor, wait a minute. I'd like a word with Harry, if you don't mind." Dumbledore turned around and was surprised to see Dudley dragging a disgruntled looking Harry into a dark corner of the room. He looked inquiringly at Strange, who shrugged and waved him back over.

They sat in silence several minutes, watching the boys' heated conversation, before Strange spoke. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, Albus? You can't fool me like you did the boys. Something's happened. What is it, and what does it have to do with why you're so worried about Harry going to Hogwarts?"

"The last two years at Hogwarts have been marked by incidences of dark activity at the school. I am certain that they were the work of Voldemort." Dumbledore replied after a short silence.

"I thought you said that Hogwarts was safe."

"Not perfectly, no. In both cases, Voldemort was acting through another agent. He possessed one of the teachers, trying to steal a valuable object. Just this year, one of his former Death Eaters caused panic by passing a diary on to a student. This diary was able to ensnare the minds of at least two students, and Voldemort was able to use them for his own ends."

"And you want Harry and Dudley to go to your school, despite proving that you can't secure the place against someone you know to be Harry's enemy? Are you insane?"

"As of yet, no, though opinions on that score may differ." Dumbledore said with a chuckle. He sobered almost immediately. "I told you years ago that I believed Voldemort still lived, and you know the prophecy as well as I do. The lives of Voldemort and Harry are inextricably linked until the day that one of them emerges victorious."

"And your plan is what? To force the confrontation? Because if it is, you can forget about that, or of Harry ever setting foot in your school either!"

"I don't plan that at all, Stephen, quite the opposite. Voldemort will not return to Hogwarts under my watch." he said forcefully. "It is Harry's destiny to face Voldemort, and I fully intend to prepare him for that day."

"I think I can prepare him well enough." sniffed Strange. Dumbledore nodded.

"Insofar as magic is concerned, yes, you can. It is why I am not worried for Harry's safety at Hogwarts. As your apprentice, he is more than capable of defending himself." Dumbledore steepled his hands before his face and stared into the distance. "However, I am more intimately familiar with Voldemort and with the wizarding world, and I'm certain that Harry will need that knowledge to win this battle."

Strange had no reply to this, so Dumbledore continued. "I'm assuming you've told him the prophecy and of the events surrounding his parents' death."

Strange nodded. "I told you I would. Don't worry about it, though. Harry can keep a secret, and trust me, he can protect his mind quite well."

"I don't doubt it. But I would ask that you not mention Voldemort to Harry or Dudley. It would do no good to have them worry about it at this time." said Dumbledore.

"I agree with you, for a change, but not for the same reason. Knowing them, they'd go looking for him, and despite their abilities, I don't believe they're quite ready."

Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ah, it appears the young men have reached a consensus."

Harry sauntered over, followed by Dudley, who wore a slightly triumphant smirk. Harry sat down heavily in his seat and seemed to struggle with himself. When he looked up again, he wore a very guarded expression. "I've changed my mind. I'll..._we'll_ go to Hogwarts come September."

"Excellent! Given a chance, I think you may come to enjoy your time at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said jovially.

Harry snorted. "I doubt it. For some reason, this knucklehead," Harry jerked his thumb at Dudley, "wants to go. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother."

"Ah. Well either way, I'm glad you will both be attending." responded Dumbledore, undeterred. "It will be most exciting for the other students and historic for the wizarding world. The Boy-Who-Lived returning, along with his cousin, the first muggle to attend a magical school."

"I'm glad you mentioned that because I want you to know that I was serious when I said I wouldn't go anywhere that practiced magic discrimination. I hope you get your staff in order, because I'm walking the first sign they're treating Dudley badly." said Harry, his voice going hard. "And I know you can't totally control other students, but I won't put up with them bothering Dudley either. Neither of us will."

"I assure you, Harry, that I shall take all necessary precautions to prevent such unpleasantness." Dumbledore said gravely, standing and holding out his right hand. "So we have an agreement, then?"

Harry nodded, shaking his hand, which was deceptively strong. "It's a deal." He felt the stirrings of magic encircle their hands, magically sealing their agreement.

"Wonderful! Now I must be getting along, as it is rather late back in England." Dumbledore inclined his head towards Dudley, and then to Strange who nodded. "Feel free to contact me should you need anything before you arrive in Britain." And with a sharp, loud crack, he disappeared.

Dudley raised an eyebrow at his father, who shrugged. "It was faster than walking him out the front door. You know how Dumbledore and I can't stand to be around each other for too long."

"I dunno, you didn't seem to mind him so much a few minutes ago." Harry said pointedly. "Anything important we ought to know?"

Strange didn't hesitate in his answer. "What we spoke of concerns you, Harry, and while it's significant, neither I nor Dumbledore believe it is of major concern at this time."

"But you're not going to tell us, right?" said Dudley.

Strange shook his head. "If I thought you two could do something constructive with the information, or if it was a matter of your safety, I'd tell you."

"Meaning you don't trust us?" asked Harry.

"Not at all, Harry, otherwise you wouldn't be my apprentices. I trust you to act exactly as you always have." Strange said with an uncharacteristic grin, ruffling Harry's hair. "And knowing you two, you may even deduce the answers on your own before I can share it with you."

Strange clapped his hands loudly. "Now then, enough of this talk. There will be plenty of time to worry about all of that over the next couple of months. Let's get back to making your cloaks of levitation."

He pointed at their work area, where a thick magic tome lay. It opened of its own accord and flipped through the pages, finally settling on one a quarter of the way in. Taking this as a sign to get started, the boys rushed over and began reading, both quickly taking notes before scurrying off to gather the required materials. For the moment, the prospect of learning about and performing new magic had chased away their ruminations on their future at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But like a novel nearing the end of its first act, this was but the short and peaceful time before Harry and Dudley would have to turn the page and began the next chapter of their lives.

**To Be Continued in Chapter 2: The Specters of Fear**

Author's Notes:

Well we're on our way, finally, after that tease of a prologue. Surprised? Intrigued? Excited? I certainly hope so. If you like Independent!Harry, Super!Harry, or NotAPunk!Harry stories, I think you'll like this one. Dudley is finally going to get a moment to shine and not be the terrible person his parents raised him to be. A whole bunch of other things are going to change as well. And if you think you've seen the last of Harry and Dudley in tights and capes, think again!

It's been a few months since the prologue, which is way more time than it should've been. On the upside, I've been putting this time to good use planning how best and quickly to get through the plot of book 3. I think you'll be surprised at how it goes down. This first chapter is in "Part 1" of the story, which is titled "Return to the Wizarding World". I intend to group the chapters like this from now on, so the story will be logically separated into parts.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it. If you did, please shoot me a review. If not, shoot me a review anyway and tell me where I could improve. Thanks to the reviewers, past and future, and thanks everyone for reading my story. Be on the lookout for the next chapter!


	3. The Specters of Fear

**The Brothers Strange, Sons of the Sorcerer**

**A Harry Potter and Marvel Universe crossover**

**Part 1 – Return to the Wizarding World**

**Chapter 2 – The Specters of Fear**

**August 25, 1993, London**

Loath as Harry and Dudley were to admit it, wizards did have some rather impressive magic at their disposal, even if they seemed to use it in almost mundane ways. While it was true that their adopted father had tried to give them some exposure to "real" wizard magic over the previous two years, they'd rarely been impressed by the short jaunts they occasionally made into the wizards' domain. Now that they were stepping into the wizarding world proper, they were beginning to see that their initial impressions (colored by a healthy amount of disdain for wizards in general) were not in line with what wizards really were capable of doing. One area that was particularly interesting to them was the various forms of traveling wizards employed, especially over long distances. Here, they had to admit, wizards had a leg up.

There was the silly in principle but highly convenient Floo network, a series of connected fireplaces that allowed you to travel by enchanted fire. It was very near instantaneous travel and required no magic from the traveler. The downside to this form of travel was that it assumed that every building had a hearth large enough to fit a man standing up. This might have been true a century before, but in modern Britain it was by no means a certainty. Floo travel was also rather disorienting and quite dirty, though a simple spell could easily render a traveler's clothes soot-proof.

Next were broomsticks and flying carpets which, again, were pretty ridiculous in their conception, though Harry and Dudley could see the utility in an object that did the flying for you. The brooms, in particular, seemed like they would be uncomfortable to ride without some serious spells to cushion the shaft, and the carpets would likewise need lots of spellwork to keep them from blowing in the wind. As with the Floo, it smacked of a society that was clinging to old ways. As far as they were concerned, it would've been more useful to enchanting something like a car to fly, because at least then it wouldn't stick out so much.

Portkeys were objects charmed with, for lack of a better description, a "teleportation" spell. They were probably the second most useful form of travel, provided you had the power and skill to create one. Most people couldn't, since the power required to cast the spell was proportional to the distance that would be covered. Portkeys for short distance travel really was overkill.

Finally, there was apparition, the ability to magically transport oneself from one place to another instantaneously. Like making portkeys, apparition was harder to do over long distances. Ideally, Harry would have liked to have learned apparition, but his father had insisted that they learn this bit of wizard magic from the wizards themselves. He and Dudley found this rather odd, seeing as he'd been teaching them wizard magic for almost two years.

For their trip to England, they'd opted to catch an international portkey from the Beamon S. Scarborough International Portkey Terminal, an international travel hub for wizards entering and leaving the Magical States of America. As all magical transportation into and out of the country was regulated by the MSA's Department of Magical Transportation, they all knew that a major incident was just waiting to happen. The fact that Harry was leaving America was no small event. There was no doubt that, as they'd tried since he'd arrived on their shores, the MSA would again attempt to meddle in his life. Further complicating matters was the fact that Strange himself would be joining Harry and Dudley, which put the MSA in a rather embarrassing position.

Strange was something of a public enemy to the MSA. Officially, he was not allowed in any wizarding areas of the United States, and orders were to capture him if he ever trespassed. In practice, government officials tended to look the other way when the Sorcerer Supreme saw fit to enter their domain. No one was in a hurry to repeat the mistake of Gilead Starsmore and the "Court of Fools", whose actions had nearly cost the country it's sovereignty. All twelve had earned places of infamy in history, along with lengthy prison sentences for treason and high crimes against the state. Now that Strange was officially entering the wizarding world, having informed the proper authorities of his intention to travel via portkey, the MSA would have the difficult proposition of trying to follow through on their empty promises of punishment against him.

In the end, though, they'd been offered a way out by a friend of the MSA, Albus Dumbledore. He'd gotten a resolution passed by the British Ministry of Magic declaring that Strange was temporarily acting as an agent of the Wizengamot, thereby giving him just enough diplomatic immunity to "escape" prosecution. This way, it looked like the government's hands were tied, and all of the blame could fall squarely on Dumbledore's broad shoulders. It helped that Dumbledore had been instrumental in saving the MSA from invasion by the Russians and that he enjoyed a healthy popularity among American wizards.

Still, walking through the terminal was a tense affair, at least for the wizards and witches who were also traveling that day. From the moment they stepped inside, an armed escort followed them, their wands not so subtly trained on Strange. The doctor, though, seemed more concerned about the rude stares he was getting from his fellow travelers. Harry, Dudley, and Wong thought it was all quite funny. After all, Wong probably could have taken on their hostile escort single-handedly, and he was by far the least dangerous of the four.

The portkey trip was quick and uneventful, though not very pleasant. To Harry and Dudley, it felt unsettlingly like going over the first hill of a roller coaster, only it lasted for nearly a minute. It deposited them so abruptly in the arrivals terminal that they very nearly toppled over when their feet hit the ground. Strange looked amused at their stumbling, but was nice enough not to comment.

A wizard was waiting for them at the gate, holding a sign up that said "Strange". Following their father's lead, Harry and Dudley walked right past him without a word. "No sense in just giving away where we'll be staying, especially not to the British Ministry of Magic." Strange said once they'd exited the building. The anti-apparition wards of the terminal behind them, he waved his hands and uttered a spell, and they disappeared in a flash of light.

Later that evening, the four sat in comfortable silence on the terrace of a very posh penthouse in central London, enjoying the cool summer breeze that wafted lazily across the city while they ate dinner. Harry, in particular, was really just picking at his food, which Strange noticed.

"Something wrong with your food, Harry?" he asked.

"Wha-? Oh, no, nothing's wrong, I was just thinking."

"Uh oh. What'd I tell you about doing that?" joked Dudley.

"Haha, you're hilarious." Harry said drolly, rolling his eyes. "I was just thinking about our friends."

"Yeah? What about those bums?" Dudley said, suddenly grumpy. Strange raised an eyebrow at this. "What?"

"Don't mind him, Dad, he's still mad at Alex." Harry said quickly. "And besides that, our friends weren't too happy to see us leave. I guess it was kinda sudden."

"Children." Strange said, sharing a commiserating glance with Wong. "They do know that you'll be back during the summer, right?"

"Well yeah, but that's like a million years from now." Dudley whined. Harry nodded earnestly in agreement.

Strange laughed and shook his head at the hyperbole, and to the relief of the boys he let the matter drop. They couldn't exactly share with him the real reason that they'd been feeling slightly depressed.

The previous two months had passed quite quickly, even by Dudley and Harry's standards. With the passage of time came more than a few changes, some more pleasant than others. They'd completed their (now officially) final year at the Greenwich Village Montessori School with their usual high grades. Another wonderful birthday celebration had been thrown and was considered wildly successful, if somewhat bittersweet. It was, to some degree, a going away party, and the attendance was the highest ever.

On the downside, their leaving New York for England, had been the final nail in the coffin of the Power Pack. Alex, having finally graduated high school, had been hinting at wanting to strike out on his own as a hero. Even Julie had been feeling some angst about the team, which she claimed was getting in the way of her conflicting desires to be an actress or a scientist. Harry and Dudley had anticipated this many months ago and fully intended to continue the Pack without the older members. They'd even gone so far as to invite Cassie Lang after she shared a secret with them: after years of stealing and exposing herself to Pym Particles, she'd finally begun reacting to them and was learning to shrink and grow just like her father. Without the two Strange brothers, though, there was nothing keeping the disintegrating team together.

And so the Power Pack, all seven of them, had gone on one last patrol around New York City, just for old time's sake. It hadn't gone well. Jack's unhappiness with the situation and anger at his older brother had boiled over, and Harry and Dudley had been more than happy to take his side. Julie, meanwhile, had reluctantly sided with Alex, and though he'd known why, that had hurt Harry. In the middle were the two youngest, Franklin and Katie, who struggled to keep the two sides apart. That was how the last meeting of the Power Pack had ended, with angry words (mostly directed at Alex) and a near clash of powers. Now, three days later, they'd left New York, having only spoken to Jack and Franklin. Julie and Katie, apparently, were still upset with them.

It hadn't been the way they wanted things to end, and already the boys had been discussing ways to mend fences once they returned the following summer. The reality was that they still wanted to be superheroes, and they'd much rather fight crime with a team than by themselves. Harry had been thinking of this all week, and now that he actually was in another country, he knew they'd need to do something to keep their friends back home.

"Dad, do we have a computer in this apartment?" he asked suddenly. "And dial-up?"

Strange looked thoughtful a moment. "I believe so. This is an executive penthouse, so it ought to have that sort of thing. Why do you ask?"

"I think I'll send Frank an e-mail before I go to bed." he said, rising from the table. "Maybe write some letters to some of our other friends, too."

"Ah. Well if you get them done tonight, I can take them back with me tomorrow." said Strange.

"Hah, I bet you're just gonna write a _love letter_ to Julie." Dudley said, waggling his eyebrows.

Harry blushed, but he didn't back down. He stroked his chin as if he were thinking of something interesting. "Actually, I was thinking more about Cassie. I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about." he said, smirking "Did I ever tell you how much she likes my scar? She said it made me look cool."

"SHE WHAT?" Dudley jumped up, looking shocked and outraged.

"Oh yeah, this scar's a total babe magnet." Harry replied smugly. "No wonder Cassie's all over – CHRIST!"

Harry dove out of the way, just narrowly avoiding a bolt of blue light that shot from Dudley's wand. He rolled away from two more spells and scuttled behind his father, hoping Dudley wouldn't want to chance hitting him. Strange, Harry noticed, was trying very hard not to laugh at the exchange. "Joking! I was just joking, Dud, honest!" He exclaimed, peeking cautiously out from below the table.

"Oh...well yeah, I knew that." Dudley said huffily, returning his wand to the holster on is belt. "I, uh, I think I'll go write to everyone back home too. Excuse me."

Harry shook his head as he watched Dudley go, looking chagrined. "Man, can't he take a joke? He's been ragging on me about Julie for years now, and have I ever cursed him for it?"

Wong and Strange looked at each other and chuckled. "Yes, quite a few times, Master Harry." replied Wong.

"Oh. Well I guess that makes sense, then. Dunno why Dud's even worried, though. Cassie's so not my type. " said Harry, turning and heading indoors. "Too tall."

**Diagon Alley, London, August 27, 1993**

Three days before the start of fall term was probably not the best time to go shopping for school supplies, Dumbledore mused ruefully. Diagon Alley, the center of wizarding commerce in the United Kingdom, was seldom more busy or crowded than the week immediately before the start of fall term at Hogwarts. The fact that two of the most famous and recognizable wizards in England would soon venture out amid the throng would not help. Worst still was the fact that, only a few weeks prior, someone had leaked the news that Harry would be attending Hogwarts and that one of his demands had been to allow his muggle cousin to attend as well. The media and public circus that had ensued had been the stuff of legend. Dumbledore had little doubt that Dudley and Strange, now arguably the most famous muggles in wizarding England, would attract as much attention as he and Harry would.

In short, what should've been a quick and simple jaunt into the Alley had all the signs of being an exceedingly troublesome and annoying day. Add to that the decidedly negative attitudes that his three companions were likely to have, and he could already feel a headache coming on.

Dumbledore looked up as the door to the Leaky Cauldron's street entrance opened and Dr. Strange strode in, followed closely by Harry and Dudley. He was again struck by how much the boys idolized their adopted father, to the point that they were dressed almost identically. Both wore cloaks that were similar in fashion to Strange's, though the jewels at the clasps were different. They ignored the interested looks from those seated inside and made a beeline for where he sat. Dumbledore rose to greet them and smiled warmly, extending a hand in greeting. Dr. Strange shook it firmly, as did his young charges.

"Stephen, Harry, Dudley, I trust your trip was pleasant?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful. "The minister was a bit worried when they missed you at the terminal."

Strange smiled, but the expression didn't quite meet his eyes. "Now Albus, you know I like a spectacle as much as the next person, and I can't remember a red carpet I didn't enjoy stepping on, but we preferred to keep a low profile. For safety reasons, of course." he said as he took a seat. Harry and Dudley followed suit, watching their interaction with great interest.

"Ah yes, I quite agree. Cornelius is somewhat prone to theatrics at times and I've no doubt it would have left you rather exposed." Dumbledore nodded. "Then again, so long as you continue to employ such effective glamours, I'm sure you won't have much to worry about."

Harry and Dudley raised their eyebrows in surprise at this statement, but Strange only laughed. "I'm always amazed how much you like to show off, Albus."

Dumbledore grinned despite himself. "You're certainly one to talk, Stephen."

Strange waved the comment away. "Oh no, these aren't my glamours. Harry and Dudley do their own."

Dumbledore nodded with understanding. "That certainly explains why it was so easy to see through them and why you look like you have none on at all. I imagine if I were someone else, you would look completely different."

Strange grinned cheekily at his sons. "See, I told you he likes to show off. And don't pout, Albus has the annoying habit of seeing through everyone's disguises."

"Except yours." Dudley said crossly.

"Except mine. I'm not Sorcerer Supreme because of my good looks, you know." Strange said, ruffling Dudley's hair. "Now then, what say we go do some shopping?"

"A capital idea. I dare say we ought to get a move on, as the crowds are quite dreadful the last few days before start of term." said Dumbledore, rising smoothly from his seat.

He'd known they wouldn't be, but Dumbledore was still slightly put out that neither Harry nor Dudley were impressed by the entrance to Diagon Alley. To hear them tell it, the gateway to Old Amsterdam in New York City was more interesting, being an elaborate concoction of glamours, transfigurations, and muggle repelling charms that resulted in what looked like an overflowing landfill next to a decaying 17th century cemetery. Their enthusiastic explanation did sound rather impressive, though it got rather grating to hear them constantly scoff at the size and variety of shops available in Diagon Alley as compared to Old Amsterdam. Apparently everything was bigger, better, and more modern in America.

"So," Dumbledore said loudly, cutting off Harry and Dudley's conversation on how tiny Quality Quidditch Supplies was compared to the Quadpot Authority, "what shall we shop for first?"

"Wands!" Harry and Dudley said eagerly. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at their zeal and chuckled.

"I suppose that should have been expected." he said. "Ollivander's is just this way, and there we will find some of the finest wands in the world."

It took them some time to wend their way through the crowded street, as Dumbledore found himself accosted on more than a few occasions by acquaintances. Eventually, though, they found themselves in front of the store in question.

The interior of Ollivander's was quite the opposite of the rest of Diagon Alley in that it was as quiet as a library. Despite the crowds outside, the shop was empty. Small candles burned in sconces along the walls, but most of the light was provided by the sunlight shining through the windows. Tiny motes of dust drifted through the air, glowing like golden sparks in the afternoon sun. Harry and Dudley led the way in, followed by Dumbledore and then Strange. The boys looked around the shop in semi-stunned awe, their mouths hanging open slightly. They could both feel magic thick in the air, almost like a hot breeze slowly washing over them. Looking closer, they could see that it was coming from the thousands of small boxes that lined the walls and covered the ceiling high shelves that ran behind the shops counter. There was no mistaking that these boxes held powerful magical items, the very wands for which Ollivander was apparently famous.

Harry moved to ring the bell on the counter when, much to his surprise, a man seemed to appear from nowhere in front of him. He jumped back, battle instincts taking over as he raised his hands, a spell on his lips. He vaguely saw in his peripheral vision that Dudley had done the same thing. They both seemed to catch themselves and, looking a bit embarrassed, lowered their hands. The man, who looked to be almost half Dumbledore's age, merely stared at them with his large eyes, a slight smile of both curiosity and amusement on his face.

"Ah, so it is true then. Welcome back to the wizarding world, Mr. Potter." he said, his voice just above a whisper. He turned to regard Dudley. "And you would be young Mr. Dursley, yes? Excellent."

He walked around the counter and shook hands with Harry and Dudley. He turned his attention to Dumbledore, whose hand he grasped in a friendly gesture. "Albus." And finally, he turned to Strange who, much to the boys' surprise, looked interested, maybe even eager to meet the old wand maker. "Dr. Strange, it is a privilege to have you in my shop."

Strange smiled and shook the man's hand warmly. "The privilege is mine, Mr. Ollivander. I've wanted to meet you for some time now, but schedules being what they are, and the political climate not being particularly amenable..."

"You honor me, Dr. Strange. I realize that you carry a heavy burden and that your time is precious." Ollivander said with a slight bow. "If I may ask, why have you wanted to see me?"

Strange smiled and said, "My master, the Ancient One, spoke highly of your skills, and said I should seek you out should I ever need an expert on wands."

The old man's eyes lit up with recognition, and perhaps a slight bit of fondness. "Yes, yes, it has been...oh, almost fifty years since he and I last spoke. How is your master, then?"

Strange sighed and shook his head. "Dead, I'm afraid. It's been close to twenty years since he was killed by his other apprentice."

"Ah, that is most unfortunate. And thus you became the Sorcerer Supreme." Ollivander said wistfully. "But his was a long and fruitful life, and he trained a worthy successor. I have heard a few tales of your exploits."

Dumbledore cleared his throat politely but insistently. "Ah yes, right you are Albus, to business." Ollivander said, turning back to the boys. Neither of them were paying much attention, instead alternating between muttering between themselves and giving their father odd looks. Ollivander's voice shocked them out of their musings. "A wand then, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh...yeah." Harry nodded.

Ollivander grabbed his right hand with deceptive quickness. He examined it closely before bustling behind the counter to the shelves. "Your other wand, place it on the counter, if you please."

Both Harry and Dudley's eyes widened with surprise. "How'd you know I have a wand already?"

"The evidence is quite plain on your wand hand." the man called out from the back of the store. "And it's quite an ill fit from the looks of it. That will not do."

Harry stared at his wand hand, trying to see the evidence that Ollivander had mentioned. He looked at Dudley, who shrugged and shook his head, then retrieved the wand from a pocket in his robes and placed it on the counter. After several minutes, Ollivander returned to the front of the shop with a teetering tower of boxes in his arms and an excited grin on his face. Harry could not help but have a sinking feeling that this would not be a quick process.

The old man carefully deposited the boxes on the counter and picked up Harry's wand, examining it carefully while muttering softly and even sniffing it. "Oh yes, an ill fit indeed, and yet you coaxed a bit of performance out of it. Very good." he said, sounding slightly impressed. With a flick of the wand in question, about half of the boxes separated from the stack and zoomed back towards the shelves. "There, now these should be fairly close. Let's try them out, shall we?"

It was not a fun process. Ollivander had Harry try out the wands by using both the simplest and the most complex spells he could perform (that weren't likely to cause a mess in the shop). Sometimes he didn't even let Harry do that, quickly snatching them from his grasp and going on about their inadequacy. Much to his annoyance, nearly half an hour passed without finding a suitable wand. Ollivander seemed to grow more excited as each minute passed, talking excitedly to himself about "tricky customers". Dudley and Strange grinned widely while Dumbledore looked over the process with an annoyingly benign expression, his eyes twinkling gently with amusement.

Finally, after the last wand had been tried and rejected, Ollivander considered Harry thoughtfully and seemed to be coming to a decision. "I wonder..." he said to himself, his eyes briefly flicking up to the scar on Harry's forehead. "I suppose it is worth a try."

He went to the back of the store for a few moments and returned slowly, almost hesitantly. He carefully set the box on the counter and removed the lid, lifting the wand almost reverently from inside. "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. An unusual combination." he whispered.

His tone and manner set Harry on edge and, indeed, the other three people in the room seemed to shuffle slightly with discomfort. Harry picked up the wand and knew almost immediately that this was the one. _Wingardium Leviosa_ was hardly on his lips before it sent the bell on the counter shooting up to bang against the ceiling. He lowered it and just as quickly transformed it into a mouse and back again. Ollivander clapped his hands excitedly, his unblinking eyes glancing from the wand to Harry.

"Curious. Most curious." He said softly.

"What's curious?" Harry asked, only he felt in his heart that he really did not want to know.

The excited look faded from Ollivander's face, leaving the man looking older and somewhat melancholy. "The phoenix which gave the feather for your wand gave only one other feather. The wand which contains that feather is the brother of the wand you hold now, and it is the very same wand which gave you that scar."

The shop was completely silent as this revelation sunk in. Ollivander glanced from Harry to Dumbledore. "Voldemort's wand is the brother to my wand?" Harry asked quietly. The wand maker nodded. "I don't want it. Give me another one."

"The wand has chosen you, Mr. Potter. You could have another, of course, but no other will fit you as well as this one, nor will it ever work for anyone as well as it will for you." Ollivander paused and sighed. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things with his wand. Terrible, yes, but great. We must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter. Whether they be terrible or wonderful things depends on how you choose to use your wand."

Harry looked at Dudley, who gave him a reassuring half-smile. His father looked thoughtfully at the wand but nodded his approval. Harry bit his lower lip, not feeling entirely certain, but if they thought it was all right, he couldn't think of a reason to object. "I guess that makes sense. I'll take it, then."

"Wonderful. Will you be needing a wand servicing kit as well?" the old man asked. Harry shrugged and nodded. "Very well, that will be eight galleons."

Strange cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, Mr. Ollivander, Dudley will be needing a wand as well."

The man gave Strange a searching look before shaking his head. "I'm afraid my wands only work for wizards."

Strange smile ingratiatingly. "Sir, I realize it's not that often that you sell one, maybe once every fifty or so years, but surely you have a few sorcerer's wands in stock. Otherwise I'll have to lend Dudley the Wand of Watoomb, which I think you'll agree is far too powerful for student level work."

The old man's eyes became even wider than before. "You possess that wand? Would you...would you allow me to examine it?" he said, his voice cracking slightly.

Strange nodded. "Of course, I can arrange to bring it to you. But for now, Dudley's wand..."

"Oh yes, of course." Ollivander said, jumping quickly and heading back into the shop. "You are quite right, there isn't as much demand for sorcerer's wands, the Statute of Secrecy being what it is. Painfully few wizards are interested in them, you see."

He returned carrying five boxes. "These are all we have, unfortunately. They're not as temperamental, at least not at first, so I imagine one of these shall be a suitable match for you, Mr. Dursley."

These wands were distinctly different from the ones Harry had tried. While the shafts were definitely wooden, they had an almost metallic sheen to them, and each wand was tipped with a small, many faceted jewel. Dudley tried them all and thought they all seemed to work favorably well for him, but Ollivander picked one that he claimed was the best fit. In all, it took only five minutes. It took a further five minutes when Harry insisted on getting one of the sorcerer's wands as well.

"That will be sixty-eight galleons, five sickles, and two knuts." Ollivander said finally, setting an odd little scale on the counter. Strange counted out the coins and set them on a scale until it grumpily said "That's quite enough to be getting on with."

"Don't mind it; it's not accustomed to large purchases of this sort. The last time more than one wand was bought was two years ago, the Patil twins." explained Ollivander apologetically.

They thanked the old man and Strange gave a sincere promise to stop in again with the Wand of Watoomb, and then the quartet returned to the warm August afternoon. Dumbledore paused and looked at an odd pocket watch that he pulled from the folds of his robes.

"My, time does fly when one is having fun." he said jovially, seemingly oblivious to the snorts of disbelief from Harry and Dudley. "We had better move a bit more swiftly if we are to procure all of the items on your lists."

"That won't be necessary, Albus. Aside from the wands, we purchased everything else while back home in New York." Strange said casually.

"Well, it seems you're all well prepared. I'll let you all be on your way unless you'd like a tour of the rest of the Alley. There's a lovely sweet shop just up the way..."

"Actually, Albus, we're going to get a late lunch, and I insist that you join us. My treat." Strange clapped him on the shoulder, smiling broadly. Harry and Dudley, Dumbledore noticed, also wore similar expressions, though he had the distinct impression that they were less than friendly. He began to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Err...well, I suppose I could have a spot of tea..." he said weakly, allowing himself to be steered back into the Leaky Cauldron. They sat at the same table they'd been in previously and gave their orders to Tom, the barman. When he'd shuffled off, Dumbledore turned back to his companions, only to blanch at all three of them glowering at him. "Is something the matter?"

"I dunno, you tell us." Harry said with barely contained anger. He reached into his robes and slammed something down on the table. It was the Daily Prophet, a newspaper that Dumbledore was quite familiar with, and it was from that morning. The headline read:

**Black Spotted in Herefordshire!**  
**Mass Murderer Gives Aurors the Slip**

Below the headline was a large picture of a gaunt, pale man with long and matted black hair who stared out at the reader as if catatonic, despite the fact that wizard photos could move. Dumbledore knew this man's face very well, and he had a terrible feeling that the Stranges knew it as well. He swallowed the denial that jumped unbidden to his lips, instead pretending to read the article while his mind considered a thousand possible ways to spin or deny any of the accusations he knew were forthcoming.

"Ah. I see you're aware of the Black situation." Dumbledore said carefully.

"Yes. Imagine our surprise when we read your little paper this morning and see the Potter's betrayer on the front page." Strange said coldly. "What's more, it appears he's been at large for some time now. And yet here we are, days before the boys are heading for your school, and we've heard nothing of this at all. Now why is that?"

"Stephen, you must understand-"

"NO!" Strange slammed his fist on the table, startling other patrons. "Don't play your little word games with me, Albus, and don't try to spin your way out of it. The truth: why are we just now finding this out?"

Dumbledore sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was worried that you would not allow the boys to come to Hogwarts if you knew about Black's escape. Harry is his most likely target, after all. This was why the minister sent a contingent to meet you at the portkey terminal." He looked apologetically at them. "I was certain that, given the timing of your arrival and your proximity to them, the boys would be safe until they arrived at Hogwarts, where they would be completely safe under my protection. I did not want you needlessly worrying."

"It's not your job to decide what is or is not an acceptable level of danger for _my _sons." Strange leaned forward and jabbed his finger at Dumbledore. "Don't try my patience, Albus. If there's anything, and I do mean _anything _that you know or learn that has to do with either Dudley or Harry, I expect to hear about it. If there is a decision to be made, I'll be the one to make it."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it. "Stephen, I admit that I was wrong to not mention Black's escape, but as their headmaster I will need to make decisions that will affect both Harry and Dudley. You must know that I have only their bests interests at heart." 

"Don't just say that you do, Albus, prove it through your actions." said Strange. "Now then, Sirius Black. Why is he still at large? And what is being done to catch him?"

Dumbledore hesitated. "I'm not sure they should be hearing this. Perhaps we could discuss this in private?"

"No way!" Harry protested. "If it's about Black, I've got the right to know! The bastard helped murder my parents!"

"Harry, please try to understand," Dumbledore responded in a placating voice, "Sirius Black is a very dangerous man and the Ministry is doing everything in its power to bring him to justice. You needn't be concerned with the details."

Strange held up a hand, stopping Harry from angrily retorting. "Albus, Harry's been my apprentice for several years now, and in that time he's learned, seen, and done things that are as, if not more dangerous that this Sirius Black. Dudley has been with him at every turn. You know as well as I that Harry and Dudley are not normal young boys. They are mature enough to handle whatever it is you have to say. And as Harry said, he deserves to know."

Dumbledore sighed and nodded in acquiescence, steepling his hands and resting his chin on them. "Very well, Stephen, I shall defer to your judgment, however much I disagree with it." He paused and shifted in his seat before looking over his half-moon glasses at them. "To answer your question, Stephen, I do not know why Black has been able to remain at large. All methods of scrying and tracking have failed to provide any clues as to his whereabouts. The eyewitness reports are all that the Ministry has to go on."

Strange frowned. "Even _you_ couldn't track him? Well that certainly bumps up my estimation of his capabilities."

"Oh yes, Sirius Black is quite a formidable wizard, and it is rumored that he was second in command of the Death Eaters." Dumbledore said gravely. "The fact that he has broken out of Azkaban, the first person ever to do so, suggests that his twelve year incarceration has not dulled his edge."

"He's coming for me, isn't he?" asked Harry stonily.

Dumbledore nodded. "That is the prevailing opinion, given the timing. He escaped several days after word of your impending arrival at Hogwarts was leaked to the Daily Prophet. Since then, the Ministry has had a dedicated team of Aurors searching for him and following leads. Fudge has even seen fit to warn the muggle Prime Minister, who has made sure that Black's face is seen far and wide."

"Which is a waste of time, since everyone already know he'll be heading for Hogwarts." Dudley added.

"True enough, but I think you will find that Hogwarts is very well protected, and any attempt to infiltrate the grounds will merely hasten his capture."

"Alright, so…" Harry said hesitantly after a few moments, "what are we going to do?"

"Do?" Dumbledore replied uncertainly. Strange, though, sent a hard glare at his son.

"_We_ are going to let the wizard authorities handle this. And I mean that, you two." He said sternly. "I trust Albus' assessment of how this situation is being handled. You'll both be safe at Hogwarts, and if he's as keen on getting at you as Albus says he is, Black will be brought to justice very swiftly. Under no circumstances whatsoever are either of you to go out looking for him. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, dad." the boys intoned, though both looked stubbornly defiant. Strange sighed and rubbed his temples. Dumbledore chuckled and patted the man reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Worry not, Stephen. I dare say that Harry and Dudley will find more than enough to occupy their time besides worrying about Sirius Black. And if not," he cast an imperious glance at the boys, "well, that can always be arranged."

**King's Cross Station, London, September 1, 1993 **

The morning of the first of September found the sun dawning weakly over the London skyline through gray cloud cover. Oddly enough, London remained relatively dry, but there was little doubt that the rain that was drenching the country north of the city would make its way south in due time. Harry looked out on the overcast sky and couldn't help but feel a slight sense of foreboding from the dark clouds. This did not help his mood at all, which was already dark enough as it was. He simply was not looking forward to being around wizards full time. The only bright spot was that Dudley was coming along, and the knowledge that he wouldn't have to go it alone helped a bit.

To his credit, Dudley seemed to have adopted a gung-ho attitude about the whole situation. He saw it as an opportunity and reminded his sullen cousin of their commitment to learning the mystical arts. While not the most convincing argument, there was a challenging undertone Harry picked up on that made him recommit to going to the wizard school. They'd been friendly rivals at a great many things for years, and Harry wasn't about to concede magical prowess to Dudley, not when he had a natural advantage.

They arrived at King's Cross station almost forty-five minutes early and leisurely strolled through the place to the appointed platform. The boys had long since deduced that platform nine and three-quarters, the departure platform for the Hogwarts Express, was not going to be found where normal people could see it. Wizards, from what they'd seen, seemed to go out of their way to be near normal people, even if only to have a laugh at their expense. They seemed to delight in hiding themselves right under the noses of regular people and leaving questionably clever clues for them to find. From what Harry and Dudley could gather, though, was that for all their talk and show of trying to keep themselves separate from normal people, wizards weren't trying to do so very hard, most likely because they were dependent on that contact.

Thus the sorcerer and his two sons found themselves standing in front of a rather large pillar that separated platform nine from platform ten, looking over it with critical eyes. They stood this way for a minute, not bothered at all by the crowds of commuters streaming past, simply watching people move past the barrier. Strange was the first to speak, and then to only ask a question.

"Well?"

Harry scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Definitely a strong compulsion spell on it, if the way people are ignoring it is any clue." he answered.

Dudley nodded, walking around the pillar. "A pretty powerful illusion on it too. I almost don't see it. And there's nothing on the other side either; all the magic's on the front."

He and Harry looked at each other, back at the pillar, and then nodded at each other. "Portal." they said in unison.

Strange smiled, but he was clearly trying not to look too pleased at them. "I hope you're not surprised at this display."

Harry shook his head. "Not really. Just surprised that they'd go through so much trouble and put so much energy into this. Why even use a train if you have the Floo and brooms and apparition? It makes no sense."

"Tradition, not that that excuses anything. The day I understand how a wizard's mind works, I'll be sure to let you know, Harry." Strange commented sagely.

Dudley folded his arms across his chest, looking unimpressed. "I'll bet the portal just goes to a blocked off platform at the end of the station. This is just for show, probably so they can laugh at how oblivious normal people are."

"Dudley…" Strange started, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"What? It's probably true, dad."

"Say, shouldn't we be getting onto the platform already?" Harry quickly interrupted before Strange could argue. He'd noticed that his father was doing this more often when criticism of wizards came up, but while he'd been curious as to why, he hadn't known how to broach the subject.

"Yes. I'll go first, and the two of you follow closely." Strange said. He casually walked up to the barrier and passed through it as if it were not there at all. Harry and Dudley followed, their vision blurring for the briefest of moments before they came out onto a platform that looked more like an older style train station than the Underground station they'd been in. A vibrant red locomotive headed up the train, exhaling a steady cloud of dark smoke from its smokestack. As it was still somewhat early, there was only a modest amount of witches and wizards on the platform, many of whom were being helped by a handful of porters. There was also, Harry noted to his brother with amusement, a small contingent of photographers and reporters, all of whom watched the entrance to the platform like hawks.

"Man, are they dumb or what?" Harry said as he and Dudley followed Strange past the group. "Dumbledore's the only wizard who even knows what we look like."

"I dunno, maybe they thought we'd waltz in wearing name tags." Dudley replied.

"It probably doesn't hurt that I compelled them to ignore us." Strange remarked. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two small wooden blocks. A casual wave of his hand returned the two shrunken trunks to their proper size. "Now, you two go find a compartment and drop your things off. I'd like to talk with you before you leave."

They climbed up into the train, their trunks floating a few inches off the ground behind them. They passed a few occupied compartments in the middle of the train before finding one that was completely empty.

"Well, this is new." Harry said, pausing at the threshold of the compartment. He squinted slightly, but it didn't help the confusing information that his brain was trying to process. From where he stood, he could see the illusion of the cabin's normal size and the reality of it being far larger on the inside than outside.

"Nah, I'd say it's old." Dudley pushed past his cousin into the compartment. "And here I was thinking we'd be cramped on this old thing."

"Did you see that? It expanded when I came in." Harry said, flopping down onto the seat opposite Dudley. "You know, Dud, I hate to say it, but that's a pretty impressive bit of magic."

Dudley nodded. "Yeah. I mean, we've seen expanding rooms, but who goes out of their way to lay out magic like that for individual train compartments?"

"Wizards, I guess." Harry said, getting back to his feet. "Let's go say bye to dad. And lock the door, I don't want to have to deal with anybody before we have to."

"All right, you negative Nancy." Dudley said with a laugh, twiddling his wand at the door as he walked out. "_Nuncada Entrandata._" The door closed and locked with a small click.

Back on the platform, they found Strange sitting on one of the many evenly spaced benches. He gestured for them to come over and sit.

"I've been meaning to have this conversation with you both for some time now, but I always had an excuse not to. Now it may be too late." Strange let out a deep breath. "It's no secret that I don't hold the wizarding world in very high regard. I have not had very good dealings with it in general. But that does not excuse my raising you to have the same prejudice that I continue to struggle with. It really makes me no better than the wizards who engender the same attitude towards non wizards.

"I was wrong to force my prejudice on you. I was wrong to keep you from seeing the good in the wizarding world. I was wrong to not do more to correct your negative attitudes about the wizarding world. I should have taught you to be more open-minded about wizards. I failed you both on all these counts, and wanted to apologize."

"Dad…" Dudley said uncertainly, "You didn't fail us. You just told us the truth."

"No, I taught you my opinion, which neither of you should unquestioningly accept as the truth. Despite his faults, Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard alive today. He's done untold amounts of good as headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. He is, without a doubt, the greatest ally you or I will ever have in the wizarding world. Yet because of me, the two of you hold him in contempt and antagonize him.

"You will be in their world full time now, but you will make no friends here if you cannot maintain open minds and hearts. Friends, more than anything, are what you will need to succeed among wizards or, indeed, among any people. If you both carry on as you have, you will have none in the wizarding world. And then I will have truly succeeded in making you just like me."

Harry scoffed at this. "Why do we need them? You saw what they wrote about Dudley and about you. You've said plenty about what you think is wrong with wizard society and why you don't associate with them. Why shouldn't we feel the same?"

"Because, while I may have some cause for the way I feel, _neither of you do_. The entire wizarding world should not be condemned for the actions of a few. Not every wizard you meet is a bigot. Many are simply ignorant thanks to their closed society. But you'll never know who is who without giving them a chance first." He paused and gave them both significant looks. "Magic is magic, whether it comes to you naturally or if you have to work to get it. That's a great truth that wizards have lost over time, and look how it has shaped their society, how it makes them look at normal people, how it weakens them. You both think that you're more enlightened than wizards, then prove it by setting the example for them to follow. Stop being like them, and start being better than them."

The boys looked down at their hands, feeling ashamed under the somewhat disappointed gaze of their father. Finally, Dudley looked up at Strange and nodded. "Alright, dad, we'll try to give wizards a chance."

Strange smiled, looking slightly relieved. "That's really all I can ask."

"Yeah, and in the likely event that they're wrong, we'll be happy to show them the error of their ways, right Dud?" added Harry.

Strange gave him a withering look and sighed. "I guess I'll just be happy that you'll both be less confrontational than normal. That's a start."

Strange sat between them again. "Two more things, and then I'll be done lecturing you. First, I want you both to be very careful this year. This Sirius Black situation has all the markings of a political firestorm, and people will want to draw you into it, Harry. I don't want either of you worrying about that man; he'll be dealt with in due time."

"He should've been dealt with a long time ago. He sold out my parents!" Harry said harshly.

"Patience, Harry. Justice isn't always swift, but it will come. Don't get so caught up in revenge that you forget why you're here. Focus on learning all you can and let the authorities deal with him." Strange admonished.

"Second, I want you both to be mindful of Dumbledore. Yes, I did say that Albus is your ally and can be trusted, but that doesn't mean he can't have an agenda for you, Harry, and you by extension, Dudley. He hasn't seen fit to share it with me, but I imagine it has to do with the prophecy, which he believes has only been partly fulfilled."

"And what do you think, Dad?" asked Harry.

"If Albus is convinced, I think it is wise to take his concerns seriously. You sit here, Harry, in defiance of the death that Voldemort wished upon you. The man who attempted to kill you is nominally dead, but you both know as well as I that death is fleeting. Albus could very well be right." Strange answered. "Whatever the case may be, his plans for you are his own, and we're not bound to follow them."

"So you're saying we can trust him, but we can't trust him?" Dudley asked, puzzled.

"I'm saying that you can trust Albus to act in your best interest. We will not always agree with his assessment of your best interest, however."

Harry and Dudley nodded in understanding. The platform had gotten steadily more crowded as they'd talked, and the boys were suddenly aware that the moment they'd been anticipating had finally arrived. All around them, other children were having a similar experience, though Harry and Dudley were likely the least excited and most confident. The train gave several hoots of warning. It was time to leave.

"Well, this is it then." Strange said, smiling and ruffling their hair affectionately. The boys unabashedly hugged him tightly. "Oof! I don't know how, but you two get stronger everyday."

They grinned. "We'll write you at the end of the week." Dudley said.

"I look forward to it. And remember what I said, you two." Strange tapped his head. "Open minds, right?"

"Yes, sir!" Harry said, snapping off a mock salute.

"On the double, sir!" Dudley added, mimicking Harry.

Strange shook his head and laughed. "Get on the train, you two. And have a good trip."

He gave them one last hug before they climbed aboard the train. With one last wave at them, he faded into the crowd, and when they blinked, he was gone. The Strange brothers sighed as if steeling themselves for something unpleasant, and began making their way back to their compartment. It was much slower going now that students were milling about in the corridor, most dragging full sized trunks. Unlike Harry and Dudley, the other students seemed to have forgotten that they could magically lighten or levitate their trunks.

"This open mind thing is gonna be hard, ain't it?" said Dudley, shaking his head in disbelief as small boy struggled to lift his trunk onto the luggage rack.

"The hardest." Harry agreed. He whipped out his wand, waved it at the trunk, and levitated into the rack. "You know, you people have magic for a reason. Maybe if you'd use it we wouldn't have a traffic jam and we could get to our compartments some time today." He said loudly to no one in particular. Looking embarrassed, some of the older students began levitating the trunks of the younger students. Harry and Dudley pushed past them.

"Not exactly confidence inspiring, is it?" said Dudley.

"Not really. I mean, you'd think with all the magic wizards use for doing simple stuff that they'd have the common sense to levitate their freakin' trunks."

"Yeah, well, wizards and logic, water and oil." Dudley quipped. "Say, where's our compartment anyway?"

"Uh…I think we passed it." Harry said. They backed up to the compartment in question and frowned in confusion as they stared into it. "This is it, Dud. I thought I said to lock the door."

"I _did_."

"Yeah, well what's she doing in there, then?" Harry pointed at the girl sitting alone in the compartment.

She looked to be about their age, perhaps a year or two older. Her bushy brown hair would probably have extended to her shoulder blades had she been standing, and it was pulled back into a loose ponytail. She was dressed rather normally in blue jeans, sneakers, and a short-sleeved lavender polo. The girl stared intently at a large book opened on her lap, idly tapping an unknown rhythm on it with her wand. Next to her, stretched out and asleep, was a ginger cat with similarly bushy fur and a squashed in nosed.

Harry reached out to open the door, but it slid to the side of its own accord. "You know, staring is rather rude. Now are you two coming inside or not?" she said, lowering her wand but not bothering to look up from her book. Harry and Dudley looked surprised for a moment before shrugging and entering. As they took their seats, the girl flicked her wand at the door and it slid shut. For a few moments, no one said anything, though the cat did wake up and eye them warily.

"Okay, how'd you get in here?" asked a somewhat bewildered Harry.

"I opened the door, obviously." said the girl, still not looking up from her book.

"'I opened the door', she says. Sure you didn't have any problems doing that?" Dudley asked doubtfully.

The girl finally looked up at them, giving them an appraising look. As she spoke, they noticed she had rather pronounced front teeth. "Oh, there was a rather annoying locking charm on the door. Was that yours?"

Harry looked at Dudley with a grin. His cousin's face morphed from one of incredulity to chagrin. "Well, well, a witch who actually knows her stuff. If I'd known that, I'd have put more than a simple locking spell on the compartment."

"Simple?" the girl asked, an eyebrow raised inquiringly.

"Oh yeah, I heard him say the spell. Shouldn't've taken more than a few seconds to undo it." said Harry, leaning back in his seat.

"Ten seconds. Though if I were _really_ trying, I suppose it could have been four or five seconds." the girl said coolly, a small smirk on her face.

Harry and Dudley look at one another, their eyebrows raised. "Well, Har, there goes Dad's advice. I think we've got a live one here." said Dudley with a grin. Harry grunted noncommittally.

"By the way, which one was that?" the girl asked casually, not looking up from her book.

"Which one was what?" asked Dudley innocently.

"Which locking charm was that?" she replied. "It looked similar to something I've seen before, and I recognized the flow of the magic, but that's about it." 

Dudley shrugged. "Well yeah, I'd've been surprised if you did recognize it, seeing as I just made it up."

The girl huffed disbelievingly. "If you don't want to tell me, just say so."

"Calm down, he's not kidding." Harry said with a chuckle. "He really did just make it up. I heard him do it."

"You can't just make up spells-" 

"Why not? People do it all the time." Harry shrugged.

"Yes, but only after a lot of research and time. They don't just make things up on a whim." she countered.

"Maybe wizards don't, but that's not really a good measure of what people can and can't do with magic." Dudley replied. "Honestly, though, the fact that you broke it at all is saying something. Most of your lot wouldn't know the first thing about some _real_ magic."

"_My_ lot? What's that supposed to mean?" she said, sounding affronted.

"Wizards. And witches. The wand waving types."

"Oh." the girl's anger seemed to extinguish immediately. "Well I'm not one of them by choice. If I didn't love magic so much, I'd be done with this world straightaway." 

The boys looked momentarily surprised. They exchanged keen looks before looking back at the girl. "Now that is the sort of attitude I like. What's your name?" said Dudley.

"Hermione Granger. Who are you?"

"Dudley Strange, and this is my brother Harry."

"What's up." Harry said with a wave. 

"Your accents..." Hermione frowned. "You're American?" 

"Sorta." replied Dudley.

"We were born here in Britain, but we've lived in New York since we were three." Harry explained in response to Hermione's puzzled look.

"Wow, really? I've always wanted to visit New York." Hermione said excitedly, her reserved attitude melting away. "Is it true that you see superheroes all the time?"

The boys chuckled conspiratorially. "Seems like it sometimes. You can't throw a rock in the five boroughs without hitting some muscled guy in tights." Dudley said with a grin. "We've met a few of 'em, even. They're pretty cool people."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You're so lucky! I've only ever seen our heroes on the telly. Not that we have that many."

"Are you kidding? You guys've got plenty!" Harry said animatedly. "Excalibur, Knights of Pendragon, Captain Britain, Union Ja- ouch!" Dudley had kicked him.

"Don't mind him, he's nuts for costumed heroes." Dudley said apologetically.

"Oh, I don't mind at all. They are rather interesting, aren't they?" agreed Hermione. "Anyway, what year are you two in? Second year? Because I don't remember seeing you when I was in first year."

"Uh...I think Dumbledore said we'd be third years." Harry replied. "They don't do social promotion for some stupid reason, otherwise who knows what year we'd be."

Hermione nodded. "So you're transfer students then? Which school? I've read all about the American magic schools. The Salem Institute sounds just like Hogwarts, but if you ask me, the U.S. Academy of Magical Sciences sounds like the best school in the States." She said all of this very quickly.

Dudley shrugged noncommittally. "We wouldn't know. This is our first year going to a magic school."

Hermione looked rather skeptical. "Oh come on now, you'd have to have had some schooling to be able to do that locking charm."

"Well, sure, we've been learning magic." said Harry. "I mean, we've been sorcerer's apprentices for, what? Maybe four years now?"

"That sounds about right." agreed Dudley.

Hermione goggled at them, the thick book in her lap forgotten. "_Four years?_ But children aren't allowed to formally study magic until they're eleven, much less begin apprenticeships! It's against the law."

Dudley and Harry chuckled knowingly. "Yeah, probably some dumb wizard law." said Harry. "It's a good thing our master isn't required to follow it, or any wizard laws, really."

Hermione gaped, not really sure what to say or make of the two boys who were grinning at her. She shook her head, confused. "I don't get it. Who can be above the law of wizards? Our society basically governs all things magical."

This provoked even harder laughter from the boys, laughter which caused her to angrily blush. "Sorry, we're not making fun of you, it's just," Dudley paused to get his breath back, "it's just that that's just the sort of thing a wizard would say. It's exactly what the wizards in charge want you to believe, but the truth is wizards only have control over a little bit of the magic in the world. Trust us, there's a lot more to magic than what you've been led to believe."

Hermione wanted to argue the point, but something in the way he said it so casually brought to mind lingering doubts she'd been having and ignoring for some time. These two boys whom she'd just met knew something and maybe even knew more than she did about magic. But how much more? If what they'd said already was true, would her concept of magic even survive? She knew that she would ask, no matter the cost, because above all else, she always needed to know.

"Like what?" she demanded.

Harry and Dudley looked at one another, a silent conversation seeming to play out between their eyes. Finally, Harry looked at her, leaned forward, and smiled. "How about we trade questions? And since we've answered all your questions since we've been in here, I figure we've got at least three or four. After that, we'll gladly answer any of your questions. Deal?"

"Well, I don't see why not." she said casually, though inside she was suddenly feeling very nervous.

"Excellent. Don't worry, these'll be easy questions." Dudley said reassuringly. "First question: what house are you in?"

"Gryffindor." she replied. "At least I think so..."

"You're not sure?"

"No, no, it's not that." she said quickly, looking slightly embarrassed. "I just...it's nothing. It's not important. I'm in Gryffindor."

"Ohhhhkay." Harry said, raising his eyebrow. "Second question, Hermione from Gryffindor: what is the name of that...um..._interesting_ looking furball sitting next to you?"

"Crookshanks is _not_ a furball, he's a perfectly lovely half-kneazle, thank you very much." Hermione said with faux indignation. She reached out to scratch the ginger cat behind the ear. "Isn't that right, Crookshanks?"

The cat in question meowed and gave the boys a look that said he didn't think much of their looks either.

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Right. Next question: do you get treated badly in the wizarding world? We've heard that non-magically descended wizards and witches usually get the shaft, especially here in Europe."

"Wait – non-magically descended?" Hermione sounded perplexed. After a moment, she realized what Harry had meant. "How do you know I'm muggleborn?"

"Hey now, watch it with the 'M' word." Dudley interjected.

"'M' word? You mean muggle?" Hermione said disbelievingly. "That's what normal people are called in the wizarding world."

"Yeah, and it's a terrible name. You may as well call a black man 'boy' while you're at it, I'm sure that doesn't demean him at all." Dudley shot back. He gave her an intense look. "They bring you into their world, tell you to call normal people a name that signifies them as lesser beings, then tell you to identify yourself as a product of these supposedly lesser beings. And you're surprised people look down on NMD witches and wizards, when they're willing participants?"

Hermione looked at him like he was crazy. "NMD? Now that just sounds silly."

"Not any sillier than the 'M' word." Harry quietly remarked.

"But -" Hermione began to protest, but she stopped herself. It had taken her quite a bit of effort over the last two years, but she'd slowly become less prone to arguing with people, even when they were saying that she was wrong. Taking a deep breath, she thought about what was said before speaking again, and admitted that what they'd said wasn't without merit. "I suppose you have a point. Wizards consider themselves normal, so they call normal people something else. You just...get used to it, I suppose."

Harry and Dudley nodded, and she had the feeling she'd just earned a bit of their respect. "But you didn't say how you knew I was mug - I mean, 'non-magically descended'."

"You didn't answer our question either. But figuring it out really wasn't that hard." Harry answered. He pointed at her book bag, which lay slightly opened at her side. "You've got a spiral-bound notebook sticking out of your bag, and there's a ballpoint pen in the spiral. And you knew about superheroes. That proves you've at least spent some time in the real world, but your braces gave it away. I can't imagine any wizard having metal in his mouth just to fix his teeth."

Hermione blushed and covered her mouth self-consciously.

"You mostly cover it up pretty well, I'll give you that." Dudley admitted.

"Thanks?" said Hermione, not so sure whether to take the comment as a compliment. "Anyway, being mugg – err, one of us isn't that bad, really. At Hogwarts it's not usually an issue. Even when it is, it's usually just ignorance, either on our part or theirs. I'm not sure about after school."

"But you seem smart enough. I'm sure you have your suspicions." Harry said casually, but she again felt like she was being tested.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "Yes, now you mention it. I had the worst time trying to get approval from the Ministry for tutors while I was out of Hogwarts. I'd read up on being able to be home schooled or apprenticed, and I definitely qualified, but it took almost half a year to get approval, and only with the help of Professor Dumbledore. Everything I'd read said it was just a formality to get approval."

"You have no idea how unsurprised I am at that." said Dudley. "All right, next question: what happened to keep you out of Hogwarts last year?"

Hermione looked startled again and stared at him. "H-how do you know that?"

"I'm psychic." Dudley laughed. "So what was it?"

"If you're psychic, you shouldn't have to ask me." Hermione snapped, all trace of humor gone from her face. Her lip trembled slightly and she looked down at her book. "Look, I...I just don't want to talk about it."

Harry and Dudley traded questioning looks. Harry jabbed his finger at Dudley and waved in Hermione's direction. Dudley threw up his hands in defeat and sighed. "Sorry about that, Hermione. I didn't mean to drag up any bad memories. My bad."

She didn't respond for a few moments. "No, it's all right. There's no reason you'd have known." she sniffled, still looking resolutely down at her book.

"Don't worry about answering that one. We'll ask something else." said Dudley.

"No, no, I'm just being stupid." she said with a small, nervous laugh, wiping her eyes. "Besides, you'll hear about it eventually anyway. It was the talk of the whole school, after all."

She took a deep breath and exhaled, finally looking at them again. "I was just so naive and stupid my first year. Trying to prove myself to everyone. Nobody liked me, not even the girls in my year. I was in the library a lot. When I wasn't there, I was in the bathroom, crying. That's where I was when it happened. On Halloween, this awful boy in Gryffindor, Ron Weasley, said something mean about me after Charms class. I don't know why it bothered me more than when anyone else was terrible to me. I think maybe I fancied him, since he was nice to me a few times, and we'd sort of had an adventure together earlier that year. I thought maybe he'd be my friend. But he was so angry that I could do the Levitation Charm better than him, he wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain it, and..."

Hermione trailed off, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on there."

"Hey, forget about it." said Harry with a wave. "Ramble on. This Ron sounds like a real jerk anyway."

"You could say that." Hermione snickered despite herself. "Anyway, the point is, I ran to the girl's bathroom after classes were over and stayed there crying until a big mountain troll came into the bathroom and nearly killed me."

She said this so quickly and flippantly that Harry and Dudley were momentarily speechless. They looked at her with wide-eyed shock, their mouths hanging slightly open. Harry was the first to regain his senses.

"There are trolls at Hogwarts? That's freakin' _awesome!_"

"Totally awesome!" Dudley gave Harry a high five.

"No, it most certainly was not!" Hermione said indignantly. This slightly deflated the boys' enthusiasm.

"Well, yeah, it's not awesome you got hurt." Dudley said quickly. "It's just, it would be pretty awesome to go one on one with a troll."

"It wasn't for me. I pretty much sat frightened in a corner until it started hitting me." she shot back hotly. "It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

Harry and Dudley looked slightly cowed at this admission, unsure of what to say. "I was so sure I was going to die, and when I didn't, I wished I had. 'Look at the stupid mudblood, ran off to get herself killed.' Madame Pomfrey fixed me up, said I was fine to go back to classes, but I didn't want to be around that. I didn't feel welcome at Hogwarts anymore."

"So you went home." Harry quietly volunteered.

Hermione nodded. "My parents told the headmaster that I needed to recuperate. I went back to normal school. I tried putting away my magic things, but I just couldn't. I loved magic too much. Eventually I got a tutor to help me get through my second year work. Part of the agreement that got me that tutor was that I'd start at Hogwarts again this year. And so here I am." She looked defiantly at them, as if daring them to criticize her. Instead, they grinned approvingly at her.

"All right, you're in." said Harry.

"In what?"

"The cool kids club, of course." said Dudley, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head. "We should probably call it something better than that, though. Maybe the Outsiders, like the movie."

"But _why_?"

"Let's see. You had a run in with a troll and lived to tell the tale. You obviously know way more than second year magic. Plus you countered Dudley's locking spell without even knowing what it was. That's pretty cool in my book." said Harry.

Hermione didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything at all. She smiled gratefully at the compliment, then quickly looked down at her book again, trying to surreptitiously wipe her eyes. She didn't want them to see her cry, at least not so soon after meeting them. Had anyone ever told her that she was cool? She couldn't remember, but had a feeling that the answer was probably no. Suddenly, going back to Hogwarts wasn't look as dreary as she'd thought it would be.

It was some time before Hermione spoke again, though the boys did not seem to mind that she'd dropped out of the conversation. While she'd been deep in thought, she did catch occasional snatches of conversation, not all of which was any language she could recognize. What she could recognize, though, was clearly about classes, as she recognized some of the incantations and names being discussed. She finally looked up and was not quite surprised to see several textbooks open between the two.

"You're choosing the classes for your timetable?" she asked.

"Sorta." answered Dudley.

Hermione perked up at this. "Which ones are you going to take?"

They both shrugged. "Harry and I haven't decided who would take the boring ones and who would take the useless ones." said Dudley. "We haven't really figured out what to do about classes like Divination, though. Boring _and_ useless."

"Honestly, have you even looked into what's being offered? There are plenty of interesting and useful subjects." Hermione said, looking aghast. 

"We know, Hermione, we're just pulling your leg." Harry said with a grin. "You've really gotta lighten up."

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. She clearly would have to learn to distinguish when they were joking and when they were serious if she was going to hang around Harry and Dudley. Assuming, of course, they still wanted to hang around her once they got to Hogwarts. "Fine, then which ones did you sign up for?"

Harry sat back and scratched his chin, thinking. "Let's see...there's Care of Magical Creatures. Supposedly there'll be some animals in there we haven't seen before, but even if there aren't, how hard can it be? Probably an easy 'A'."

Hermione shook her head with false disappointment. "Americans. You do realize that 'A' isn't the highest mark, right?"

"Okay, it'll be an easy grade, nitpicker." Harry said exasperatedly. "Oh, and Arithmancy. Dad says it's pretty useful. Same with Ancient Runes. We actually have an edge there. We've been reading runes for years now."

"You forgot Divination." volunteered Dudley.

"Oh god, not that again." Harry groaned. "You just said that it'd be boring and useless. That's gonna be _such_ a waste of time."

Hermione nodded. "I signed up for it too, but if you ask me, it sounds like a woolly subject. Almost no one is actually any good at predicting the future."

"Dad says the same thing, more or less, but he's witnessed a few prophecies that did come true." Dudley said. "And anyway, half of Divination is interpretation of prophetic information. That's bound to be useful."

"Is that all? You're not taking Muggle Studies?" asked Hermione.

"Urgh. Yeah, we're taking it all right." Dudley said with a grimace. "A hundred bucks says we're teaching the class before the end of the first month. Maybe we can even get them to change the course name to something inoffensive."

Hermione snickered. "I wouldn't count on it. The 'M' word is very popular. But you're probably right. Even the most well informed wizard is usually very behind on what muggles are like."

"Sister, you ain't never lyin'." Harry said in a horrible attempt at a Southern drawl. The three of them chortled quite a bit at this, only stopping when they heard a rapping on the compartment window. The door slid open, revealing a kindly looking witch with a cart piled high with candies, cakes, and bottles of an orange colored liquid.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked. Both Dudley and Harry nodded eagerly.

"Uh, I'll have four of those pie looking things, two of the cakes, five of those chocolate frogs, and a bottle of that orange juice." said Harry. "And whatever these two want."

Hermione shook her head, slightly embarrassed. "Oh no, that's quite all right Harry, I've got money for -"

Harry waved her complaints away. "Don't worry about it, it's my treat."

"Get it while it's good, Hermione, before Harry regains his senses." Dudley said with a grin. He looked at the older witch. "I'll have half of what he's having, thanks."

Hermione bit her lip pensively. "Oh, all right then. I'll just owe you then." She ordered a pie, a cake, and a couple of chocolate frogs.

They proceeded to work through their food, and since she finished first, Hermione continued talking about classes. "It sounds like we'll be in the same classes together, then. I do hope we'll be able to get our schedule, though. It sounds almost too busy. There's bound to be a conflict."

"Eh, don't worry about it. If they tell us we can't take all those classes, would it really be so bad?" asked Dudley. From the look on Hermione's face, she _did_ think it would be bad.

"Anyway, I think you'll love the regular classes. Well, some of them. Potions isn't bad, even if the teacher is horrid. History of Magic is dreadfully boring. And we'll be lucky if Professor Quirrell was sacked while I was gone, otherwise Defense will be the most useless class we'll take all year." she rattled off. "But other than those, the classes are good."

Hermione glanced out the window into the corridor, then did a double-take, narrowing her eyes as if to see better. A look of recognition and a smile spread across her face. Harry and Dudley followed her gaze, which led to a somewhat pudgy boy, about their age, who was pacing in the corridor. From the looks of things, he was rather upset.

"Someone you know?" asked Dudley.

"That's Neville Longbottom. He was in Gryffindor with me. Probably the only person that didn't dislike me. I used to help him with his homework." she said, getting up. "I wonder what's the matter."

She opened the door, startling the boy, who looked slightly fearfully at her a moment. His eyes were somewhat red, as if he'd been crying. He seemed surprised to see her, but smiled widely. "Hermione! You're back! Where've you been?"

"Hi Neville." she said happily, giving him a hug. Seeming unsure of what to do, he patted her back uncertainly. "I've been at home, mostly. I finally decided I should come back to Hogwarts."

"It's really good to see you." he said. He glanced back at Harry and Dudley uncertainly.

"Oh, this is Harry and Dudley Strange. They're new here, but they'll be in our year." said Hermione. "Harry and Dudley, Neville Longbottom."

Harry gave a friendly wave and Dudley nodded. "Now what's bothering you, Neville? It's not like you to pace about, and you look like you've been crying." Hermione said in a very business-like tone.

"I've not been crying." Neville insisted rather unconvincingly. "It's just...Malfoy took Trevor! And he said he'd use him for fresh potion ingredients!"

Neville's voice wavered and he sniffled quite audibly. Harry, Hermione, and Dudley had somewhat different reactions to this revelation. Hermione looked affronted and ready to storm off. Harry looked interested, perhaps even eager. Dudley, meanwhile, seemed curious.

"Oh, that's awful, Neville. That Malfoy hasn't changed a bit, has he?" she said angrily. "Well, we'll just see about this."

"You mentioned a Malfoy? As in Lucius Malfoy?" asked Dudley.

"That's Draco's father." said Neville miserably.

Dudley immediately looked just as eager as Harry. He looked at Hermione and then to his brother. "I think we can help you, Neville. Who knows, it might be very interesting."

"Th-thanks. I really appreciate it." Neville looked hopefully at them.

"Lead the way, Neville." They exited the compartment, Harry locking the door behind, and followed Neville. The boy looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I don't know what compartment they're in."

Harry waved the apology off. "Don't worry, a tracking spell will find him. Draco Malfoy, you say?" Harry waved his second wand lazily. "_Dir am Draco Malfoy, gran-ka no Oshtur!"_

Hermione frowned, looking very confused, but Dudley just shook his head and smirked. Harry ignored him. "This way." he said, heading away from the front of the train. "By the way, Neville, who is Trevor anyway?"

"He's my toad."

Harry and Dudley raised their eyebrows. "Oh, right. I guess that makes sense." Dudley said, trying not to laugh. Hermione shot a warning glance at them.

As it was only two cars down, it didn't take long to find the compartment. Through the window they could see that it was fairly full. Hermione counted eight, most of whom she only vaguely remembered. They all laughed uproariously as someone, who looked to be at least in fifth year, cast a spell on the unfortunate toad. It twitched, then began to dry out like a raisin. Outraged, she tried throwing open the sliding door, only to find it locked. She brandished her wand like a whip, harshly incanting "_Alohamora!_".

The door slid open with a bang. All eyes in the compartment shot up, some faces looking guilty or concerned, but the expressions quickly turned to disdainful sneers.

"Well if it isn't buck-tooth Granger. I guess the troll didn't beat any sense into you." drawled one of the boys. He had platinum blonde and cold blue eyes that looked hatefully at Hermione.

"Shut up, Malfoy, and give me that toad." she barked.

"I don't think so, since it's _my_ toad." Malfoy replied with a disingenuous smile. His friends snickered.

"It is not!" Neville said hotly. "You stole Trevor from me!"

"You lose everything, Longbottom. Don't blame it on Draco." said a girl, who looked awfully similar to a pug.

"That's right. So you see, this one is mine." He looked at Harry and Dudley, trying to hide his wariness. "Longbottom just told you a story because he lost his own."

Harry and Dudley snorted with disbelief. "Wow. Uh, Draco, is it? You're a real piece of work, man. Not only are you a thief, you're the most," Harry paused, as if trying to find just the right word, "_pathetic_ liar I've ever met."

Malfoy's face darkened with outrage, and his friends wore similar expressions. Dudley smirked at them and added his thoughts. "Then again, we haven't met your dad. From what I've heard, you're not half the piece of crap he is."

"Don't you dare talk about my father!" Malfoy shouted.

Dudley grinned even wider. "Bit close to home, huh? Well at least you have an excuse for being such a huge retard, which is more that I can say for the rest of you losers"

"SHUT UP!" Malfoy yelled, drawing his wand.

Harry looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be pointing that at something small and defenseless? Maybe you can get your friends to hold the scary toad down! It should only take about eight of you to torture a helpless toad, right? Makes you guys feel real big and strong, huh?"

Seven more wands were suddenly pointing at them, held by eight very angry boys and girls. The oldest boy, who had terribly splayed teeth, spoke up with a growl. "We're big and strong, all right, and we don't take crap from little Gryffindor tossers. Now get the hell out, or we'll make you get out."

Hermione and Neville shrank back, but Harry and Dudley actually took a step into the compartment, completely unafraid. "Ooh, the big bad wizards are pointing their little sticks at us. We'd better run away or they might accidentally point them in the right direction and use them!" Dudley said in a falsely frightened voice. This angered their adversaries even more, though most seemed to be waiting for a cue from the older boy. Harry and Dudley exchanged a glance and small nods.

"Oh no, that would be _just terrible_." Harry smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm quaking in my boots, really."

"You'll be lucky if you can even do that after we're through with you." Malfoy snarled threateningly, though he, too, seemed to be waiting for a signal.

Harry and Dudley both laughed loudly. "Yeah, right." Dudley shook his head dismissively. "Losers like you guys don't have the guts to fight face to face."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, so stop pretending you'll do something and just hand over the toad."

They stood in silence for just a few moments, while they watched the oldest boy make his decision. "_Locomotor Mortis!"_ he barked.

Seven other voices cried out incantations simultaneously. The eight spells blasted over the short distance to Harry and Dudley, who looked completely unconcerned. Before the spells could hit, they seemed to run into an invisible surface, and the bolts of light either splashed against it or ricocheted back upon their casters. They had only a moment to look shocked before half were down, victims of the rebounded curses. The remaining attackers raised their wands again and fired off another round of spells, but Harry and Dudley had already drawn their wands. They each silently fired two spells that deflected the curses into the walls. A final swish of their wands ripped the wands out of their owners' hands and brought them to hover just in front of the duo. After less than twenty seconds, the fight was over.

"We'll take the toad now." Harry reversed the dehydration spell on Trevor, who had started to look a bit like beef jerky, and floated the toad to its rightful owner. Neville looked ecstatic for a moment before remembering what had just transpired. Harry, Dudley, and Hermione waved their wands at those that had been cursed, returning them to normal.

"You guys are really lucky we're so nice." Dudley remarked, stowing his wand. "Next time we won't undo your mistakes."

"_If_ there's a next time, Dud. We have to give 'em the benefit of the doubt." Harry reminded his brother. He turned his attention to the eight thoroughly cowed people before him. They glared at him with hate and not a small amount of fear. "If this is what you guys do to get your kicks, I'm just gonna warn you now: find a better hobby. We don't like bullies. If we catch you at it again, we'll do this all over," Harry lowered his voice dangerously, "except we won't be nice. Capice?"

As they turned around to leave, the wands stopped hovering and clattered to the floor. No one made a move to pick them up. "Who the hell are you two?" the older boy demanded.

"What, you don't recognize us? You have no idea how much that hurts our feelings." Harry half turned and smirked at them. He pointed at Dudley. "This is my brother, Dudley Strange, but you may've heard him called Dudley Dursley. As for me, I go by Harry Strange," he gave them a dazzlingly fake smile and lifted the hair that had, until that point, seemed almost glued to his forehead. The lightning bolt shaped scar drew the attention of all in the room, and recognition dawned on their faces. "But you know me as Harry Potter."

He waved sardonically and pulled the compartment door closed before heading back up the corridor. Dudley followed close behind, laughing and clapping him on the back. By the time they'd made it back to the compartment, they were both chuckling at what had transpired and joking about it. It was a further minute before they realized that they were being stared at. Hermione and Neville had been silent all the way back to the compartment, and the reason appeared to be shock. They were slack-jawed and staring at Harry and Dudley with very wide eyes, though Hermione was clearly trying to shake herself out of her stupor.

"You two okay?" Dudley asked.

"You're Harry Potter?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"You're Dudley Dursley!" Neville said with a squeak.

"No, no, I'm Harry, he's Dudley. I thought we'd worked that out earlier." Harry replied with a grin.

Hermione growled exasperatedly. "I know _that_. But why didn't you say something earlier?

"Should I have?"

"Yes!" Hermione threw up her hands. "You're famous! I've read all about you in probably a dozen books."

"None of which match up with the genuine article, seeing as our dad didn't let any witches or wizards near us until very recently.." Dudley added. "And anyway, would it have mattered?"

This gave Hermione pause. "No, I suppose not. And the books only talk about your scar and what happened the night you defeated You-Know-Who."

"Huh. I should read some of those things and see how badly they screwed it up." said Harry nonchalantly. "Neville, you're drooling."

And he was. A long thread of spittle hung rather comically from his mouth. He shook his head and blinked, looking embarrassed, then quickly wiped his mouth. "Oh, sorry, I just...you did magic."

"Yeah, wizards are known to do that on occasion" Harry quipped.

"No, I mean Dudley did magic. It's just...I didn't know he could." Neville explained. Hermione looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"Oh, that." Dudley nodded understandingly. "Of course I can do magic. It wouldn't make sense for me to go to a magic school if I couldn't, now would it?"

"No, 'course not it's just...well the Prophet said -"

"C'mon, Neville, you can't believe everything you read, especially in the Prophet." Harry said. "It makes the National Enquirer look like the Times."

Neville didn't seem to know how to respond to this and, indeed, he'd gone glazed eyed again. "I, err, I think I should get back to my compartment. Thanks for the help."

"Anytime, Neville." Dudley said with a wave as the boy exited. He reached out to the seat that had just been vacated and snatched up a wriggling toad. "He forgot his toad. I'm guessing Malfoy wasn't totally lying about his losing stuff."

Harry barked a laugh. "Five bucks says he's spreading the good news of their savior's return. Between him and Malfoy, our surprise entrance is gonna be totally ruined."

"We could spice it up, maybe ride in on some Pegasi. If we called now, they could meet us at Hogwarts." Dudley joked.

"Pegasi are so out of style man. No one will think we're cool. Now thestrals, they're where it's at."

"What," Hermione ground out, looking from one boy to the other, "are you two on about? In fact, what was Neville on about? Why was he surprised you could do magic?"

"Man, you really have been out of the wizarding world a while, haven't you?" Harry remarked. "I mean, we heard that it was all over the papers for a while."

Hermione narrowed her eyes dangerously, drawing her wand. "I swear, if you don't tell me what's going on right now, I'll hex you both into next week."

"Okay, okay, calm down, girl, geez!" Harry said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender.

Dudley's mouth quirked into a half grin as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "The reason Neville was surprised I could do magic is because I'm not like other wizards. I'm not a wizard at all actually; I'm just a normal person."

Hermione frowned, not completely understanding what Dudley was getting at. "Well yes, you seem perfectly normal -"

"No, Hermione, I'm _normal_." Dudley said, shaking his head. "Or what wizards would call a muggle."

Hermione sat in stunned silence, disbelief etched on her face. She shook her head stubbornly. "No, that's not possible. I saw you do magic. You can't be a muggle, it's impossible. Muggles can't do magic."

"Sure they can, you saw Dudley doing it earlier." Harry assured her. "It's only hard to believe because wizards have denied it for so long that they actually think it's the truth."

"But you did magic!" she repeated stubbornly.

"Fine, let me see your wand then." Dudley sighed resignedly, taking her wand in his right hand. He pulled out his wand with his left hand. "Alright, something simple. The Hovering Charm?"

Hermione nodded uncertainly. Dudley waved his wand at Trevor. "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" The toad struggled in the air as an invisible force lifted it into the air. He lowered the hapless toad back to the seat. "Now with your wand, and in my real wand hand."

Dudley repeated the incantation and wand movement, but Trevor remained on the seat.

"B-but the books...they said..." Hermione looked utterly taken aback as the truth sank in.

"Dad always says that there's more to magic than what's written in all the books in all the worlds in the universe. Even the best ones can't know everything." Dudley said quietly.

"Like I told Neville, don't believe everything you read. Plenty of so-called non-magical people do magic." Harry added. "Did you know that the most powerful magic user on earth isn't even a wizard?"

Hermione shook her head absently. She seemed to be having an internal argument, her eyes looking into the distance while she chewed her bottom lip. Finally, she looked back at them, not looking totally convinced. "You're talking about Dr. Strange, aren't you? He's not a wizard? How do you know that?"

"Well, we've known him almost our whole lives." Dudley answered earnestly. Hermione's eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing behind her fringe. "Besides the fact that he's taught us pretty much everything we know, he's also our adopted father."

"WHAT? Your father is Dr. Strange? _The_ Dr. Strange?" she gasped.

"Yup." said Harry.

Hermione slumped back into her seat, and she didn't say anything for several minutes. Harry and Dudley exchanged worried looks, unsure of what to do. Then she suddenly sat up, a huge smile on her face, looking positively giddy. "This is brilliant! I can't wait to tell my parents!"

"Uh...okay..." said Dudley. "Not exactly what I thought you'd say, but okay."

"Dudley, my parents are the most normal people you'll meet. They're dentists. They don't understand magic at all. It makes them uncomfortable, so I really don't talk about it. But you're the proof that they can learn! And once they do, maybe they'll understand why I couldn't stay away, why I had to come back." Hermione said happily. "And I've got loads of questions for you two, I can't even think where to start. I'm so jealous of you two, learning from the best mage in the world! You must have learned so much, especially if…"

Harry and Dudley watched her with growing apprehension as she rambled on in her excitement. They both had the sinking feeling that they'd just opened a very large can of worms. On the other hand, the boys couldn't fault her excitement and thirst for more magical knowledge, as they could sometimes be just as keen. Harry realized that Dudley was right in his initial estimation of her. There was potential here, and if she was open-minded enough to unlearn or relearn what she thought she already knew about magic...

"Hermione. HERMIONE!" he said, snapping the girl out of her monologue. "Man, take a breath, will ya? That was like twenty questions in less than a minute!"

Hermione looked slightly embarrassed, but Dudley laughed good-naturedly. "Don't worry, Hermione, we've got plenty of time to answer your questions. You don't have to ask 'em all at once."

"Right, I just...it's very exciting –"

"Yeah, we hear that all the time, being super famous and all that." Harry said haughtily.

"Not you, you great prat, the magic is exciting. You've only been marginally interesting." she shot back with a smirk. Dudley guffawed at his brother, who was trying not to laugh while looking mortally offended. Hermione rolled her eyes at this. "Now can we get back to my questions? Because I really wanted to know how -"

But the question died on her lips as the screech of metal scraping against metal greeted their ears, the lights flickering ever so slightly. They were slowing down. Within minutes the train had ground to a halt, and as it did so, the lights went out one by one. A momentary silence fell with the darkness, which was only broken by the occasional flashes of lightning outside.

"What's going on?" Hermione whispered, not so much to anyone else so much as herself.

"Dunno." said Harry, staring out the rain-slicked, fogged window with narrowed eyes. "Whatever it is, I don't like it."

"Me neither." agreed Dudley, his hand drifting to his pocket. Harry saw this and raised his eyebrow inquiringly, to which Dudley nodded. A small, anticipatory smile grew on his face as he mirrored his cousin's move, extracting his wand from an unbreakable sheath sewn into the pocket of his robes.

Hermione hadn't seen this interplay, having risen from her seat to look out the compartment window into the corridor. Hermione drew her wand and lit the tip with a whispered "_Lumos!_" A few people passed by, but for the most part the corridor was empty. She placed her hand on the door handle to pull it open, but Dudley reached out and stopped her. "I'm just going to peek out and see what's happening." she said.

"Not a good idea. If something _is_ going down, either me or Harry ought to take a look." Dudley replied.

"Yeah, if it looks like there might be trouble, you don't go sticking your head out." Harry agreed. "Not unless you want it taken off."

Hermione paled. "That...that's ridiculous! Why would there be something dangerous on the train?" she spluttered.

Harry shrugged. "Better safe than sorry. Dud, let's take a peek, see what's up." 

Dudley peered out the window, looking for any signs of trouble. Satisfied for the moment, he slowly slid the door to the side, wand at the ready in his left hand. The tip of his wand glowed brightly red, and he stuck it out the compartment door. Very quickly, he stuck his head out and looked up and down the corridor, then ducked back into the compartment. "It's all clear, just some other people looking around. I think I saw one of those prefect dudes headed this way. I guess we can ask him what's going on."

The prefect, a mousy haired boy who looked to be a few years older than them, didn't seem to know any more than they did. "Don't you think I'd tell you if I knew anything? Just stay in your compartment and keep quiet. I'm sure we'll be along any minute now." he said brusquely, moving down the corridor.

"Thanks for nothing, jerk." Harry grumbled, looking at his retreating form. "So we either stay here or we go find out what's the problem. I say we go investigate."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Dudley said with a curt nod. "You suited up?"

"Always." Harry nodded, his smile getting a bit wider.

Hermione looked at the two before loudly clearing her throat. "You can't just go out there. The prefect said to stay in here. You'll both get in trouble." 

"I'd rather be in trouble and informed than out of it and clueless." Dudley said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's something you ought to know about us. We like to think of rules as more like suggestions. Especially at times like this." said Harry. He turned to his cousin. "You take the back, I'll go check the front."

"And who am I going with?" asked Hermione.

The boys looked at each other. "You not." they said at the same time. 

Hermione looked from one to the other, her hands on her hips and a slightly miffed expression on her face. "So _what_ am I supposed to do?"

Dudley shrugged. "Lock the door and sit tight until we get back."

"I most certainly will not! I'm going with one of you."

Harry sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, have you ever even used magic in a fight?"

Hermione flushed. "Well no, not exactly. But I do know quite a few defensive spells. I can do any spell in the Standard Book of Spells up to Grade Five, and some out of Grades Six and Seven."

The boys tried hard not to look impressed. "Okay, so you know a bit. Doesn't mean you'll be any good if it comes to a fight." said Dudley skeptically.

"We'll see, because if you don't let me go with one of you, I'm locking the compartment with the most advanced locking charm I know, and I guarantee it won't just take ten seconds to undo." Hermione said archly, folding her arms over her chest defiantly.

"Geez, you're serious, aren't you? Fine. Dud, call it." Harry fished in his pocket before pulling out a coin and flipping it into the air.

"Heads."

Harry checked the coin on the floor. "Hah, tails! Well, have fun, you two. Dud, I'll open my mind a crack in case you need to project anything to me."

"Cool beans." Dudley grabbed Harry's arm. "And be careful, dude." 

"Ain't I always?" Harry said with a grin.

"Not really." Dudley replied as he followed his cousin out into the corridor. With a quick nod, Harry turned and walked up the dark corridor towards the front of the train.

"Is he always this reckless?" she asked.

"Not always. I think he was showing off for you." Dudley said with a smirk. "And you really need to learn to threaten people. We could totally have blocked your charm after you told us what you were going to do."

"Oh, well I'm terribly sorry. I'm not exactly in the habit of making threats to people. At least not idle ones."

Dudley laughed. "By the way, can you make yourself invisible?"

"I may be able to Disillusion myself. Why?"

"Because it'll be much easier," Dudley waved his wand over himself and slowly faded from view, "to avoid the prefects."

"H-how did you do that?" Hermione stammered. "That's no Disillusionment charm."

"Later," came Dudley's disembodied voice. "Just do the spell and let's go. And keep quiet."

After a few false starts, Hermione managed to get the spell to work, and she disappeared as if an invisible liquid covered her body. They worked their way to the back of the train in silence, flattening against the wall whenever they passed someone in the corridor. Hermione thought that following Dudley might have been more difficult if he hadn't thoughtfully (and incomprehensibly) left a small bit his right hand slightly visible. It was also rather fortunate that so many people had lit their wands, making it far easier to move around undetected.

As their compartment had been in the middle of the train, it didn't take too long to reach the very end. They both noticed it getting noticeably cooler, but as she couldn't see his face, Hermione couldn't tell what Dudley made of it. At the end, the door was slightly ajar. Dudley pulled it open and looked out into the darkness, leaning over the side to see. A flash of lighting illuminated the world for just a moment, startling them both. Hermione screamed as she saw a dark figure gliding away towards the front of the train.

"The hell was that?" Dudley asked as he pushed her back inside. He'd dropped his invisibility, as had Hermione.

"What? I was startled!" Hermione huffed indignantly.

"No, I meant what was that thing? I didn't get a good look, but I'd swear it was a wraith."

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth, looking horrified. "No, it's not possible! They should be at Azkaban, not here!"

Dudley looked very seriously at her. "Hermione, what was that thing?"

"A dementor! That's why it was cold, and I knew I was feeling too horrible just to be scared!." She said quickly. "They're a kind of wraith, but they feed on good memories and feelings, and even your soul. But none of them should be loose! They're supposed to guard Azkaban, the wizard prison."

Dudley's brow creased with thought. "Memories and feelings? I felt that crap too, and I shouldn't have, so they must be almost Omega level telepaths. I'd better warn Harry." He raised his raised his right hand, the index, pinky, and thumbs pointed out while the ring and middle fingers were tucked into his palm, and began to mumble something Hermione couldn't quite understand. Then, as if speaking into a radio, he began talking into his hand. "Harry! Harry, you've got to listen to me! There's some wraith thing called a dementor headed your way. It's an Omega level telepath. Cast a mind shield. Harry, are you there?"

After a few moments of silence disembodied voice croaked in an ominous whisper "Dud...help..."

Dudley's eyes widened and a shadow of fear flitted across his face. "Let's go." he said, pulling Hermione after him as he sprinted down the narrow corridor. "And I need to know what weaknesses these dementors have."

She pulled him to a stop. "Wait, you're not going to actually fight them, are you? We need to get an adult."

"I'm not wasting time looking for anyone but my brother. If you want to go do that, be my guest, but only _after_ you tell me how to beat these things." And he turned on his heel and continued running down the corridor. Hermione looked undecided a moment before sighing and running to catch up. By the time she'd caught up to him, they were nearing the front of the train. It had gotten noticeably colder, and she was feeling extremely apprehensive. When she came closer to Dudley, however, the cold seemed to disappear, and she felt far better.

"That's the mind shield." he said, answering her unasked question. "And I thought you were going to get an adult."

"Someone's got to keep us out of trouble." she answered as they crept down the corridor. Students in the compartments cast frightened glances out at them as they advanced. "Now about dementors: the only spell that works on them is the Patronus Charm."

"Never heard of it." grunted Dudley, his eyes squinting to peer ahead into the darkened hallway. "Can you teach me real quick?"

"No, I haven't even been able to do the spell myself, not that I haven't tried. That's why I said we needed to get an adult." Hermione whispered.

"Great, that's just awesome." Dudley said, sliding open the door at the end of the train car. The scene that greeted them as they stepped into the next car made their blood run cold.

Harry lay in the middle of the car, which was clearly some sort of club room and had no compartments. He'd curled his body into a fetal position, his wand forgotten on the floor beside him. Surrounding him were four dark, hooded figures which seemed to hover ominously like so many Grim Reapers. One of the dementors reached down to slowly lift the boy up, even as its hood fell backwards, exposing a corpse-like, skeletal face.

"NO!" Hermione and Dudley screamed simultaneously, and for a moment the four figures paused and regarded them before returning to their task. Hermione felt her hairs stand on end as four electric blue balls shot forward, splashing on the ragged robes of the dementors and sending crackling electricity arcing across their bodies. The attack was for naught, though, as it seemed to have no affect whatsoever on them. Stunned, Dudley waved his wand again, only to be stopped as the dementors seemed to be pushed out of the way.

"What the hell?" Dudley exclaimed. Hermione stepped out beside him and stalked forward, her wand waving in the general direction of the dementors and mumbling something that he couldn't quite hear. He rushed to Harry's side and knelt down beside him, feeling for a pulse. Dudley let out a relieved sigh when he found it. Besides the clammy skin and shivering, Harry seemed to be okay.

"I thought you said spells don't work on them." Dudley said, standing and pointing his wand impotently at the dementors, who were alternating between rushing forward and being pushed back into the walls by Hermione's spell.

"They - don't!" she replied with a grunt, pausing to mumble the incantation again. "Banish - the air - at them!"

Dudley smacked himself on the forehead, wondering why he hadn't thought of it himself, before raising his wand and whipping it in a circular pattern over his head. A strong wind surrounded them, effectively forming an unassailable barrier.

"Thanks." Hermione said, and Dudley noticed that sweat dampened her brow and her breathing was ragged. "I'll wake Harry."

"Don't! I can't hold a mind shield for all three of us and keep this spell going." Dudley said. "I'll wake Harry while you go get help. Make a break for it once I drop the spell, okay?"

Hermione shook her head fiercely. "I can't leave you-"

"Hermione, if you don't, _none of us_ are getting out of this!" he said forcefully. "Just do it, okay?"

"Fine. But give this to Harry when he wakes up, if you can." she reached into her pocket and handed Dudley a chocolate frog. "Make him eat it. It'll help."

Dudley looked skeptical, but nodded. "Go on my mark. Once you get out of the car, I'm breaking the shield, so be ready for it." Hermione nodded, her wand at ready by her side. "GO!"

The wind died so suddenly that Hermione's ears popped, but she ignored this as she banished a dementor out of her way. Her heart pounded all the way to the door to the next car, where she paused for a second to look back at Dudley. With both arms outstretched, he seemed to be banishing the dementors away with both his wand and his left hand. Even more incomprehensible was the excited, almost exultant grin that graced his face, as if he were enjoying every second. Then her eyes fell to Harry's curled up form on the floor and she remembered that they were relying on her. With a great heave, she slammed open the door and ran to find someone, anyone, who could help.

Dudley watched Hermione exit and very quickly ended the mind shield. A wave of cold and despair washed over him, threatening to overwhelm, but he managed to just utter the shield spell again. Warmth flooded his entire being and, more importantly, Harry stopped shivering and curling up. Dudley cast the wind tornado again, only this time it was much weaker than it had been. He knelt again and, ripping the chocolate wrapper open with his teeth, forced the chocolate into Harry's mouth.

"Harry, eat that, quick! You've gotta pull yourself together. I can't do this without you!"

Harry struggled to his feet, his legs slightly wobbly, and leaned on Dudley's shoulder for a moment. An angry scowl marred his face as he looked around at the hovering dementors. "What are these things?"

"Dementors." said Dudley. "Look, these things are tough. No spells work against them and they can get around our mind barriers. I'm just barely maintaining a shield over us right now."

"Right. No spells. Fine." Harry said brusquely. He pushed his wand into his robes and reached for the toothpick that was stuck behind his right ear. "Let's do it the old fashioned way."

He whipped his hand down and suddenly, incomprehensibly, the toothpick grew. In seconds, it had become a long wooden staff. Dudley nodded in agreement and stashed his wand away. The whirlwind disappeared with a small pop, and the dementors immediately descended upon them. Dudley calmly reached inside a pouch at his belt and, with the ringing sound of steel on steel, he swiftly drew a sword from beneath his robes, pointing it forward threateningly. For a moment the scene was still, the boys standing back to back, their weapons poised to strike as the dementors regarded them in silence.

"HAI!" Harry shouted, whipping the staff overhead and spinning to bring it around in a sweeping arc. The nearest dementor took the full brunt of the blow, flying several feet to the side. He swung back around, catching another dementor across it's hooded face. However, they were apparently made of tougher stuff than he'd thought, as they seemed to shrug off his attacks. Harry faced the first one, holding the the staff level to the ground as he sidestepped to the right. He spun again, this time with a cry of "Extend!" The staff shot out at both ends, which caught both dementors in the chest and pushed the back against the walls of the car. For a moment, it seemed they were stuck, but the dementors grasped the staff and began forcing it back towards Harry. With a frustrated "Retract!", Harry returned the staff to it's normal size and backed up, beckoning the dementors to come at him again.

As soon as he felt Harry move, Dudley sprang at the two dementors that glided at him. Taking two steps to the left, he sent his sword right to left across the first dementor's chest, and then sent it back again before bringing the sword low and crouching even lower. He exploded upwards, twisting in the air, his sword a striking the dementor several times as he arced away towards the other dementor. His target held it's bony arms up in defense, and his sword impacted solidly a few times before he landed, the sword digging an inch into the floor. Dudley twirled and slashed, his sword flashing and sparking as it tore into the dementor that seemed entirely too slow to defend itself. Sensing danger, he rolled backwards and pushed and sent a banishing spell at the first dementor, sending it crashing into the other. Another banisher sent the sword flying at them, impaling the dementors against the wall. He celebrated for just a moment, when a bony hand calmly pulled the sword out and dropped it to the floor. Floating at him again, the dementors showed almost no damage at all and, indeed, the puncture wound disappeared as if it had never been there.

"Uh, Harry!" Dudley shouted, summoning the sword back to his hand. "Hitting 'em doesn't work either!"

"No, you don't say!" Harry shouted back as he battered a dementor away with increasingly wild blows. He was so busy that he didn't notice the other dementor grabbing at him. Dudley tried banishing it away, but the spell fizzled. Harry cried out in pain as it yanked him back, then turned and pointed the staff at it's chest. "Extend!"

It shot up at the ceiling and then fell gracelessly when Harry retracted the staff. The brothers backed up and found themselves, once again, at the center of the dementors' circle. They were both breathing very deeply through their mouths.

"These things are tougher than Diamondhead." said Harry, waving his staff threateningly to keep the dementors back. "Any ideas?"

"Banishing." said Dudley, pushing one away while swiping at the other with his sword.

"Tried that, didn't work." grunted Harry.

"The air around 'em. No spell works on them, remember."

"Right, how stupid of me." Harry said sarcastically. He pushed out with both hands, sending powerful banishers that still only pushed the dementors five feet back. "And that's not working so hot either. Running's starting to sound like a good plan."

"You read my mind. Hard blast on three, then we get the hell out of here?"

"Count it off." said Harry grimly.

Dudley nodded, mentally corralling all his energy for one big banisher. "One...two..."

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_"

A burst of silver light from near the entrance to the compartment flooded the compartment and the slight chill that they'd felt during the entire fight was replaced by a warm breeze. To their astonishment, a great, silvery dog, obviously the source of the light, came bounding at them, growling and snapping dangerously. Harry and Dudley crouched, ready to defend themselves, but were relieved to see it attack the dementors. Contrary to their expectations, the dog seemed to actually hurt the dementors, and they shrank away, gliding backwards as quickly as they could go.

"Get out." a voice said loudly and firmly. "Sirius Black is not on this train."

Harry and Dudley watched the dementors glide out of the opposite door, each looking back briefly at them, as if to remember their faces while the dog paced and growled at them. When they'd all gone, the dog barked loudly once, then dissipated into smoky gray mist. They weren't quite sure what they'd just seen, but it had worked. They turned to see who had come to their aid.

The man was a rather thin and pale and was dressed in a shabby set of wizard's robes. Though he looked young, his hair was graying slightly, and despite his rigid upright posture, they could see the bags under his eyes that gave a distinct aura of exhaustion. In all, he looked like a man who hadn't slept in years and was wearing down rapidly. This made his very angry expression all the more convincing, at least until he fully looked at Harry. He seemed taken aback, as if he'd just seen a very familiar face he never expected to see again.

"James?" he whispered, his eyes distant, before shaking his head and saying more firmly, "Harry?"

**To Be Continued in Chapter 3: Hogwarts At Last**

Author's Notes:

Five months is an awfully long time to wait between chapters. Hopefully I made up for that woeful update rate with the length of this chapter. I've started chapter 3, but I won't even insult your intelligence by saying when it'll be done. Hopefully this chapter is enough of an enticement to keep you checking back. There's a lot of interesting stuff that's going to start in the next couple of chapters.

Please check out the forum if you have any questions. I'll be glad to answer any that won't spoil the story. Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment. Until next time...


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